


Targets are Acquired

by Rdadvenger



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Action, American Presidents, Assassination, Drama, F/M, Humor, Possible Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-05 12:52:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 44,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5375948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rdadvenger/pseuds/Rdadvenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three vengeful individuals are trying to take down the Avengers due to the death of their loved ones. Robert Hall, a friend of the Avengers and liaison with the Government is attempting to get a treaty between earth and Asgard; but for that to happen, a certain reformed prince needs his name cleared. Update, I have a new Beta, Lecroixssx, and she is wonderful, I will post new versions of the chapters, and hopefully together we can get this story done. Thank you everyone</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1 Matt

Chapter One

**I only own Agent Robert Hall, Matt, Frank, and Cindy.**

**Culver University**

**Willowdale, West Virginia**

**June 2, 2011**

 

As Matt Jenkins got out of his car, he thought about his younger brother, Henry, who he hadn’t seen in two years. He was looking forward to finally getting to see him again, as they had always gotten along really well. The numerous laboratories in his department worked alongside the military; his lab specifically was developing multiple new alloys for the government. This often meant that he was too busy to visit his family, which is why he was excited to take a break from work. 

As he walked across the parking lot of Henry’s college on the hot June day, he noticed that the campus wasn't that busy. It wasn't overly surprising; most of the students had already left for summer break. However, that wasn't the case for Henry. 

Henry had decided to take a few summer speed courses which would enable him to get his degree a year early. Matt had made a deal with Henry before had gone off to college: if Henry could prove himself while getting his degree, Matt would get him a job at his work. 

Matt was here to pick up his brother and take him out to lunch and check up on his progress. As he headed to the courtyard, which had been arranged as the meeting stop, he was surprised when a bunch of armed troops suddenly ran by him, heading in the same direction he was. The sound of their boots pounding on the ground as they went past increased Matt’s immediate concern and confusion as to what was going on, confused and frightened him. Why were troops with machine guns and grenades on a college campus? He was used to those weapons at his work-- which was a secure area and required special protection-- but this was a public campus. 

He instantly knew that something wasn't right and broke out into a run after the troops. The roar of an engine behind him alerted him to military Humvees with mounted turrets coming his way. Seeing the massive vehicles sent his heart into overdrive. What the hell was going on? He continued to follow the courtyard and came to a stop at the glass walkway, where all the troops had all gathered.

As he was standing there, he overheard the chatter on the radio. "Banner's running in the library." 

"He's in the glass walkway!" one of the soldiers shouted.

Matt looked up and saw a man wearing a blue shirt in the walkway, looking around wildly. He searched for his brother, but Henry was nowhere in sight.

"Fire the tear gas!" another soldier yelled as most of the soldiers aimed their weapons at the glass. _Thump, thump, thump._ Matt was sure that the amount of smoke they had pumped into the bridge would kill a man. He didn't know how wrong he was.

"Matt, what’s going on?!" somebody shouted to him, making him jump a little in fright. He turned and realised it was Henry; he must have come out of a door. The younger Jenkins raised his hands, as if to ask, _'What the hell is going on?'_

Matt looked up at the smoke-enclosed area, finding the figure of the man gone. In its place was the outline of someone–or something–larger and bulkier. Henry started to jog away from the building, making his way to his big brother.

Suddenly, the glass and metal exploded outwards, and Matt saw the most terrifying thing in his entire life. Out of the explosion came a giant, green, angry, muscular monster. It jumped down to the ground and as it landed, it shook the earth beneath their feet. 

When Matt recovered, he immediately began to look around wildly for his brother. "Henry!" he called, trying to locate him. _'Where are you, Henry?_ ' he thought, concerned.

The monster roared, and it sounded like a hundred jets taking off. There was anger in its roar, scaring Matt to his bones. It started to walk towards the troops, and they opened fire on it; hundreds of bullets bounced off its skin like they were nothing more than annoying flies. The hits were only aggravating the monster.

When Matt knew it was safe to look for his brother again, he looked around and spotted him on the ground; he ran to his little brother's side. As he got closer, he grew more and more concerned by the amount of blood surrounding him. "No!" he screamed, not caring if his voice drew attention. All he cared about was his brother. He saw that most of the blood was coming from Henry's head, and cried out when he saw there was a rock by his head with blood painted on its side. Matt couldn’t hold back the tears. He knelt down and rolled the younger man on his back, supporting his limp head; he was unresponsive. "No. _No!_ You can't die, Henry!" he screamed.

He looked up for help. "HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP ME!" he shouted, but nobody paid him any attention. They were either running away from the danger or involved with battling the monster, which was destroying the Humvees like they were little plastic toys. Realizing there was no hope, Matt bundled his brother into his arms, sobbing over the body. He cried out to the Lord who, in his eyes, had failed him.  
He didn’t loosen his grip on his brother as he looked up to notice the army losing to the monster. Anger swept over him-- that _thing_ killed his brother!-- and screamed, "Die! Die, you fucking monster! Just fucking die!" 

A massive explosion made him jump and hold onto his brother tighter for protection. A small, sad smile made his way to his lips. The monster could not be seen. "Henry, they killed it! They fucking got him!" The joy was short lived, however, because the smoke cleared and revealed that the monster was very much alive, and holding onto a woman. It immediately fled the scene. 

Matt watched its escape with burning anger, unable to do anything. _'One day, I will find you, and you will pay for what happened to my brother,'_ he bitterly thought.

 

**June 9th, 2011**

**A Cemetery in Virginia**

 

The funeral was beautiful--It was funny how those two words fit together. Henry was laid to rest besides his parent’s graves, who had died a few years earlier due to a drunk driver. 

Matt was joined by his cousins, Frank and Cindy. The three of them remained after the service to talk. "Frank, thank you so very much for coming, I know you are going through your own hell." He scoffed bitterly. "You should have seen it. It was..." He paused, overflowing with horrifying memories, " _Evil._ "

"Have you been able to find anything out at work with your clearance?" Cindy questioned.

"No," Matt answered with a sigh. "They ordered me to stop poking around and to just let it go."

"Don't lose your job over this," Frank spoke up, concern laced in his voice. "I know you want revenge; we all do. But… I mean, what the fuck is our world coming to, monsters and robots?”

"I want someone to give us a straight answer," Matt commented, ignoring what Frank just said. He didn’t want to listen about not getting revenge. 

"Things will eventually work out," Cindy said reassuringly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You know we're always here for you."

Frank nodded. "Yeah, you know we love you.” He paused and glanced at his watch before continuing, "I have to go back home. There are a few minor plans I have to finish.”

"I know. I love you all," Matt said, smiling tightly. “I will see you in a couple of days.”

Frank and Cindy left, leaving Matt alone in front of his only brother's grave. When the sun set and the air grew cold, he decided it was time to go home. He knelt down next to the tombstone one last time for that day. "I love you, Henry. God willing, I will find that monster and kill it." He looked towards the sunset. "Banner… I'll never forget the name."

As the sun set and he he walked back to his car, he was no longer crying, although his eyes were still puffy. 

He had a new purpose in life.


	2. Chapter 2 Frank

###  Chapter Two

  
  


**Puente Antiguo, New Mexico**

**June 2, 2011**

 

Frank and Mary Williams were siblings, although there was an eight year gap between the two. He worked for Dona Ana Munitions in Las Cruces, on the border of Mexico, and had left home a long time ago. At that stage, Mary had never even thought about it. She’d worked at the local 7-11 since she was a teenager.

Frank had arrived late the previous night and he’d been hoping to spend some quality time with her, so the next morning he went to her job so that they could catch up. She was telling him about the new guy in town, the one that hung around the crazy scientists. 

Mary continued to talk to Frank passionately. “You should have seen this guy. He is so cute and loud, and I think he’s British.” 

“Sure, Mary, British people always come to New Mexico. I bet it was on his bucket list,” he teased her sarcastically. 

“Frank, you are such an asshole ,” s he answered casually. “So, what’s new at work? You said something last night about some new bullet?”

“Yeah, we’re working on a new bullet for a sniper rifle that’s faster than what’s out there now.” Frank expected praise or surprise, but to his dismay, his sister was looking distractedly out the window with a confused expression on her face. He followed her gaze, nose scrunching up.

“What the hell? Look at those freaks. Where did they come from?” Mary exclaimed, seeing strangely dressed people cross in front of the store window.

“Eh, maybe they are going to the Renaissance Fair and they’re lost. Maybe they forgot to make a left turn at Albuquerque,” Frank suggested randomly, always making a joke. His sister just rolled her eyes.

They both watched who looked like three strange looking people with swords and shields walk by before looking rejoiced at obviously bumping into somebody they knew. 

“Oh, that’s him in the blue shirt. See, he’s so cute!” Mary squealed.

Frank chuckled at his sister’s usual antics. “Who’s the girl that’s hanging off of him?” 

“That’s one of the nerds. I am  _ so _ going to kick her ass. She’s trying to take my man.”

Although Frank knew she wasn’t being serious, he couldn’t help but struggle not to laugh. “Yeah, okay. It’s amazing that you can say that with a straight face.” Frank paused for a moment. “Hey, I’m going to head back to the house and take a shower.”

“Yeah, you smell. I’m going to go in the back and stock up. I'll be out of here in about two hours.” 

Frank had no idea that those would be the last words that he would hear from his beloved baby sister.

 

Frank walked the two blocks to Mary’s house and took a shower, enjoying himself thoroughly after such a long trip. When he came out, he grabbed the white fluffy towel off the shelf to dry himself off before starting to get dressed. A few minutes later, he heard a loud commotion outside and poked his head out the window. People were yelling and screaming, pointing down the street. As Frank turned his head, he saw it: a giant silver thing of nightmares a block from his current location, heading towards him. Then, its head opened up and a beam of fire shot out, blowing up a car. 

Frank jumped back, grabbing his remaining clothes and throwing them on as fast as he possibly could before making his way out of the bathroom. He grabbed a double barrel shotgun on his way out of the house, wanting to get to Mary and make sure she was okay. The monster was closer to her location than his. To his horror, he saw the monster turn its head towards the gas station. It felt like he was watching in slow motion as the face opened up once more and fired in his sister’s direction. 

“No!” he screamed as the fire came out and blew the place sky high. As he got closer, it was abundantly clear that the gas station had been a direct hit. He tried to keep calm, but the tears began slipping down his face the closer to the station he got. 

“Mary! Mary, where are you? Mary!” He kept screaming in an attempt to find her, but it was no use. The flames were too hot and he couldn’t get any closer. He looked around frantically. What was the time? Had she already left the station? She could be okay. Maybe she got out before the building exploded. <i>‘ _ God, please let her be okay,’</i> _  he thought hopefully. But then something caught his eye. 

He found her laying on the ground, face down. She wasn’t moving and when he crouched down beside her, he discovered she wasn’t breathing either. Her skin was covered in red sores and blood; she was burnt on the majority of her body, ruining the once innocent body of his baby sister. He couldn’t stop the tears that began falling down his cheeks as he sat there. 

As he tried to compose himself, he noticed a blond-haired jackass approaching the monster. Seeing how the man approached the monster made him have the suspicions that it was his fault the monster was attacking them. His sister was dead because of that man; she only saw the good in him, but he was trouble. Frank grew bitter and angry, then turned his head back towards his precious sister.

Suddenly, he heard people screaming. When he turned back around to see what was happening, he saw the blond man flying through the air, and the scientist was running to his side. There was a blinding light and the blond was back up, but he had somehow changed into armor and was holding a large hammer. 

The man charged the monster with absolute determination. Within seconds, a tornado formed in the town as the fight between the two continued. Frank couldn’t see, but held onto his sister in some attempt to keep her safe. The tornado slowly stopped to reveal the monster laying on the ground, defeated.

_ <i>‘So he killed it,’</i> _  Frank thought bitterly, but it was after the blond armored man. If he wasn’t here, that thing never would have come and Mary would still be alive. Everyone was treating him like a hero. What the fuck? Mary was dead. Someone had to pay, and it was going to be the blond-haired man.

Frank looked down at the shotgun. <i>‘ _ That would work _ , _ ’</i> _ he thought. But before he had chance to pick it up, black SUVs started coming from every direction and men in black suits hopped out of the cars. 

_ <i>‘Figures. The goddamn government is going to cover it up, _ ’</i> he thought. Frank looked down at his sister, feeling weak and helpless. He was overflowing with emotion as he held his sister in his arms and cried.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

**June 11, 2011**

**Cemetery in Galisteo, New Mexico**

 

Frank was exhausted as he stood over her grave, his eyes closed for a few moments as he tried to remember his sisters laugh, but he couldn’t get the image of her burnt body out of his mind. He was glad that Cindy, Matt, and Mike had come out. He was extremely shocked to find out that Henry had died on the very same day as Mary. 

“What the hell is the world coming to?” Frank asked rhetorically.

“I know, right? I don’t get it. what’s the problem with our family ? ” Matt answered as the two sat on a bench by themselves.

“You haven’t been able to find anything out?” Frank asked him, knowing Matt was having a hard time coping without any answers.

“Nope. I had my job threatened twice, so I backed off. All I know is that some guy named Banner is involved.” Matt looked up. “What about you?”

“Something about Thor. He’s from another planet; apparently some alien. I heard it on the radio, so I don't know how true it is.”

“I want the bastard dead,” Matt almost growled. 

Frank nodded in agreement instantly. It was like Matt could read his mind right now. He couldn’t believe that nobody was condemning the real people that killed his sister or Henry. “You and me both. So, what happens now? Obviously, the government is covering it up.”

“I don’t know,” Matt replied before pausing. “Wait a minute, you said that you’ve been working on a new bullet for a sniper, right?”

“Yeah , ” Frank confirmed, confused as to why he wanted to talk about work. 

Matt’s face turned serious as he leaned in slightly. “What I am about to tell you is very classified,” he warned.  “I have been working on a new alloy. It’s supposed to be lighter and stronger than any metal on earth. It is a silicon-carbide vibranium alloy. Do you think you could make a bullet head out of it?”

“Yeah, I think so. We’re working on a new bullet for the  Barrett M82 50 cal. version M107. The bullet is a Raufoss Mk 211 high explosive round. It is faster and more powerful than anything the military has,” Frank replied, the cogs in his head turning as he worked out what Matt was thinking. 

“You know that once we start this, there’s no turning back, right?”

“I know, but someone has to pay,” Frank replied, He was not going to let his sister die without justice, and if the officials weren’t going to do it through legal channels, then he’d do it any way he can. 

“Hey, guys, there you are,” Cindy said as she approached them with her brother Mike, shaking them out of their conversation.

“We have been looking all over for you, too,” Mike added.

The two men were still sitting on the bench. They knew that they would sleep on the ide, in their hotel rooms for the night and then touch base tomorrow. Although, they both knew that the other would be committed to avenging their loved ones. 


	3. Chapter 3 Cindy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimers at first chapter

###  Chapter Three

 

**New York City** **  
** **  
** **May 4th, 2012**   


Cindy Allen was always smart with money; she knew how to make it work. In fact, it was to the point that she could almost be considered psychic. That attracted a lot of important clients, and she made them a lot of money. Because of this, she was very wealthy.

She served clients with very long histories; histories that others didn’t dare mention. They had very deep political ties that served as extra protection. These were the type of people that the F.B.I. couldn’t touch. These were the type of people that made the Italian mafia nervous. These were Cindy's best clients, and she did not disappoint. She wouldn’t because, after all, she wanted to live.  

It was a nice day in May. Cindy was in her office, making amazing trades as usual. 

"We’re under attack!" she heard someone yell out at the same time that a string of explosions went off. She turned and peered out of the window, seeing blue beams hitting cars and buses. Then she saw the Avengers--well, glimpses of them. Cindy reacted in the same way which she noted everybody else was: hiding, praying, and hoping the superheroes and military would protect them.

From her place under her desk, she saw a giant green thing and a man with blonde hair fighting on top of a large white flying monster, attacking aliens. That wasn’t something she saw every day, not that she understand exactly what was happening. When the flying monster crashed into Grand Central Station, there was a chorus of cheers. 

Cindy noticed another man on one of the flying things. He had on a weird-looking helmet and an evil smile; the type of smile that dropped a stone of dread into your stomach and made you curl into yourself for protection. She looked into his eyes for a second and all she could see was hatred. It was heavy, thick, deep... an abyss with no end, and it scared her more than anything else ever had or would. Cindy honestly wondered how one man could have so much evil in him.

Then, she remembered herself as a child, going to church and hearing about the antichrist, and feeling scared of one man. ‘ _ Is this a sign of the end?’  _ Cindy wondered. He flew past her and began to fire at cars and buses, making them explode instantly. ' _ My God _ ,’ she thought. ' _ All those lives lost. Wait...’  _ Cindy remembered something with an intense feeling of fear, _ ‘Wasn't Mike supposed to come meet me for lunch? _ '

She quickly dialed her cell phone, almost panicking, but the network was down, or overloaded, or something. That didn’t deter her and she kept trying and trying, until finally, it went through. It was ringing.

_ Ring. _

_ Ring. _

"Cindy! Thank God you called. Are you safe?" The relief in her brother’s voice was astounding, and almost outweighed her own.

"Yes! Mike, where are you?" she cried.

"I’m somewhere with a bunch of other people. There are some police officers helping us. What the fuck is going on?"

"Well, I think we aren't the only people in the universe," she breathed, finally saying what she had feared.

“No shit, Cindy. Always the smart-ass.” Mike wasn’t so amazed and scared at the revelation.

_ Boom! _

"What was that?" Cindy yelled.

"That was one of those things that the aliens are flying! One just crashed in front of the store we’re in. Oh, shit, they’re still alive!" Cindy could almost feel the fear in his voice.

"Mike, get out of there!" She could hear the sound of running footsteps, and then it was quiet. She heard a door handle being twisted, but then Mike told her that it was locked and he could not get out. Cindy held the phone tightly, hoping for a miracle.

"Cindy, they see us. There’s nowhere to go. The cops are firing their guns. They got both of them. Wait, shit, they threw something!"

_ Clink. _

_ Clink. _

“Cindy! I lov…”

"Mike!" she screamed as the tears began flowing down her face and her lips shook in fear. There was no answer from Mike. The line had cut off during the explosion. “MIKE!” Cindy released her phone, letting it drop to the ground with a thud. What had happened? Was her brother alive? It was unlikely. She felt an overwhelming dread-- she just  _ knew _ he was dead. 

"Oh my God. There’s Iron Man! What the hell? Holy shit, there’s a missile on his back!" she heard someone exclaim, pulling her from her thoughts.

"He’s going straight up into the portal!" someone else exclaimed.

Just then, the glass shattered as some aliens came through. The shards cut at Cindy’s skin as she turned towards the noise. They raised their weapons. Everyone froze, sure that they were going to die.

Cindy simply thought, ‘ _ Well, at least I’ll be with Mike. _ ’

Then, suddenly, they all just fell to the floor like rag-dolls. Nobody moved, paralyzed by fear like she was. 

"Look, the portal’s closing! The heroes won! We're saved!" Shouts of glee and relief echoed around Cindy as people began to stand up.

Cindy was a little happy. After all, she hadn't wanted to die, and was glad she’d been rescued. Even so, the thought of Mike and all the other fallen loved ones crossed her mind. Hopefully, they got that evil bastard. 

‘ _ I hope he rots in hell _ ,’ she thought.   
  
  
  
  
**New York City Marble Cemetery** **  
** **  
** **May 6th, 2012**   
  


Cindy stood alone. Matt and Frank weren’t able to come. There were no answers provided by the government to the people. Why had this happened? Who was that evil man? Who were the people in the strange ships? What was being done to help the families bury their loved ones?

Cindy just cried; sobbed. It started to gently rain, which made her hurt more, because Mike loved the rain. When they were kids, they would go out together and jump in puddles and scream out in unending joy. He was gone now. She didn’t notice when it began to rain harder.

She knelt down and put her hand on the stone. "I love you, Mike. I always will, and I promise you this: if I ever find that bastard, he’ll end up dead."

She eventually stood up, giving the headstone another glance before slowly walking out of the cemetery. She was already soaked and didn’t care as the rain grew stronger.


	4. Sometimes the Past doesn't Die

 

**Military Base, Colorado**

**May 6, 2013**

**Matt’s POV**

 

Matt Jenkins was nervous as hell. Today was the day; the day to steal the materials he needed. One he has been planning for months now. He understood the risks that if he got caught, he would end up in jail for a very long time. However, that _monster_ was still out there, and getting rid of that was more important than the possible repercussions.

 

After witnessing the invasion a few months ago, the event was still swirling around, fresh in his mind. The image of that ‘God’ being praised was darkening his own soul; that _‘God’_ was nothing more than a murderer. All he needed to do was time everything correctly in order to get the silicon-carbide vibranium alloy out, unnoticed. If he was successful, they would be able to make the explosive bullets rounds that could go through anything, including monsters and fake Gods.

 

When the soldier on duty would take his weekly, _‘sneak off his post and hook up with his girlfriend for twenty minutes’_ break, which was more than enough time for him to leave with the silicon-carbide vibranium alloy. Matt would be able to make twenty ounces of it, which, according to Frank, would be more than enough to make all the bullets that they would need for testing and doing the job.

 

Matt hoped it would work and that his coworkers were absent-minded enough to not notice him taking it, when the time came. He walked out of the lab to go to the bathroom at the perfect moment to see the guard sneak away. Matt couldn’t believe his luck, and he knew he could not waste this moment. In his haste, he forgot about the need to use the bathroom and returned to his laboratory to collect his coffee cup. Dumping out the liquid, he felt his heart was beating fast. As he grabbed the alloys, he felt his hands getting even more sweaty. There was a moment of hesitation, making his pause before he stuffed it into the false-bottom of the cup. Once he had screwed it on, he ran his sleeve over his forehead, which was also sweating.

 

He was a goddamn scientist, not a spy. He could end up going to prison for thirty years for this. ‘Fuck it’, Matt decided finally. Three family members, three beloved friends, were dead. The government wouldn’t do anything about it, so they would.

 

Matt ignored the doubts and the uneasy feeling in his stomach as he picked up his coffee cup and walked out of the door. He wanted to be quick, without raising suspicion, as he knew that if the guard saw him, he’d be searched on sight. As he stepped further out into the corridor, relief filled him as he discovered it was empty. Without any more hesitation, he made his way through the door, and then immediately through the second security door. He could feel his heartbeat increasing.

 

Forty yards; one hundred and twenty feet to his car and success would be his. Matt's eyes were looking everywhere, not daring to leave a single stone unturned. There was no one around, but that did nothing to stop the dread forming in his stomach.

 

He walked about twenty feet, and a light turned on to his right, far enough away that he almost missed it. His heart stopped and he could feel his lunch rising in his stomach. _‘What should I do?’_ he thought wildly. Matt realized that if he was noticed he could be searched. The light went out just as quickly as it had turned on. He started walking quickly again, but this time he was almost jogging. Just a few seconds more. He came closer to the car and reached into his pocket to get the keys, the keys to freedom. As his hand went into the pocket, his heart stopped and a heavy stone of dread and fear dropped into his gut.  

 

There was nothing there. He had left the keys in the lab with the rest of his lunch. He wanted to scream out, to free his anger and let the world know, but he knew it wouldn’t be a wise choice. Thinking it futile, but wanting to try everything, he looked at the lock. It was open.

 

_‘A fucking miracle,_ ’ he practically cried in relief. He quickly opened the door and lifted his seat. Matt had made a compartment in the seat that had the exact same coffee cup in it, being paranoid and wanting to be sure nothing could go wrong. He switched the two cups, closed the compartment, and lowered the seat. Matt quickly locked up the car and closed his door. He hurried back to the lab and was almost at the door. Then, he suddenly heard something that almost stopped his heart completely.

 

“Sir, please stop now!” a marine yelled out firmly.

 

Matt stopped and turned around, trying to be as compliant as possible. The soldier approached him quickly and with purpose. ‘Fuck, a patrol,’ Matt thought, terrified.

 

“Why are you out here?” the buff man ordered an answer.

 

“Um, hi. I forgot my coffee cup, so I went to get it,” Matt stuttered out.

 

“Can I see your badge, please? Are you okay? You are sweating a lot, Sir.” The previously rude marine showed some concern.

 

“Of course.” Matt handed it to him, quickly thinking of an excuse. He became very glad it was a hot night. “I must be getting spoiled by the air conditioning.”  

 

The soldier checked the badge and handed it back. ”Dr. Jenkins, did you sign out with the guard on duty?”

 

Matt was getting nervous-really nervous. With a breath, he decided it would be best to be as honest as possible, but leaving a few things out. “No,” he admitted. “Um, look, I don’t want anyone to get into trouble. I just ran out to get my cup.”

 

The soldier stepped into the light, and Matt couldn't believe his luck. “Okay, fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut as long as you keep yours shut, cool?”

 

Matt almost laughed at the words he was hearing. “Yeah, we’re cool,” he reassured.

 

“Okay, get inside now, before someone sees us,” the marine ordered.

 

Matt went inside and then back to the lab as fast as he could. He set his cup on the table and took a huge breath of relief. Then he remembered that he had to go to the bathroom, and started to leave to use the restroom.

 

“Dr. Jenkins, please come here now,” he heard the guard at the desk yell up to him. _‘Fuck, they got me.’_ Matt almost started running, but he simply walked up to the desk with shaking hands. The guard handed him a clipboard. “Here, sign this part saying you went out to your car. I already went back and erased the footage. I’ll just write up the gap as a glitch.”

 

Matt couldn’t believe it. Maybe fate was in play here. With a quick signature, he visited the bathroom and returned to his laboratory. After working for about twenty minutes, to avoid suspicious, he texted both Frank and Cindy. It was a simple, pre-arranged text that would confirm he had accomplished his goal and they were all set to meet up. The text read: ‘Good.’

  
  


_____________________________________________________________________

 

**Casa Lever Restaurant**

**New York City**

**May 7,  2013**

****  
  


**Cindy’s POV**

 

The restaurant was expensive; it was known for it’s amazing taste in food and class. If you wanted to impress an out-of-town client, this is one of the places. She made her way up the stairs with the red carpet and through a glass doorway; it was separate from everyone else and provided privacy. Today it was a little later in the afternoon, so the restaurant was pretty empty as she sat by herself at a table.

 

Cindy talked to Matt last week, they were making very good progress with the bullet. After their conversation, she immediately contact with her ‘special’ client, but at each appointment, she was greeted with an empty table, or someone who said, maybe next time.

 

This meeting, she assumed would be no different. Her head lulled to the side as she heard footsteps behind her. “Ms. Allen,” a thick German accent spoke behind her and spun around as the male approached her. He was a bald, older man who had a monocle over his right eye and stood with a firm posture. The confidence boomed off him and one glance into his eyes showed that he was not a man you’d mess with. “May I join you?”

 

“Yes, please do.” Cindy had her hopes high that she finally was meeting someone of importance.

 

“I am glad to meet you. You have been successful with helping my associates make profit, and not to be nosy, but I am to understand that you wish for something. I do, thank you and apologize about the other meetings; but we all must be careful,” he said, surprisingly honest.

 

“Thank you, and of course I understand. I just do what I am paid to do, that’s all.” She paused, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I was hoping you would know some people that can help my family through a grieving process. I have lost two cousins and a brother in the past year to extremely unusual events, and the proper authorities have done nothing to help.”

 

“Keep going, please,” the man requested, curious at how they could help.

 

Cindy pulled a folder out of her bag. As she opened the folder, she placed three photos down. “This is Henry Jenkins. He died on June 2nd, 2011 at Culver University because of this green monster.” She placed a blurry image of the Hulk by his photo. “This is Mary Williams. She died the same day in New Mexico, because this man decided to do a battle in the middle of town with a monster instead of fighting it in a safe place.” Although Cindy would never know it, Frank had lied to everyone about the details. He wanted everyone to be believe that the blond-haired man was the reason for the carnage. “Earlier this year, my brother Mike was killed by those fucking aliens, and this man or alien was the leader of them.” She placed the final photo down.

 

“I am very sorry for these tragic events. You all must be saddened by these,” the man said politely. “But I am confused. Why do you seek us out?”

 

“I am no fool. I know that your people can do things that…” She hesitated, pausing for a moment; she did not want to seem rude. “...bypass the law. I’m not threatening you, because I am not that stupid. If you don’t want to help; I will look elsewhere.”

 

“Good, because you would be dead,” he stated, matter-of-factly.

 

“Exactly. I don’t know who you are, nor do I want to. I am confident you and whoever you work for can get anything done for the right price.”

 

“I will not disagree. Continue, but I will warn you, our price is quite high.”

 

“I can afford it,” Cindy commented determined before adding, “or find a way to bargain.”

 

“Bargain?” A rare smile appeared on his face. “I am interested. How can you bargain?” He seemed amused.

 

“I know two people that are designing a bullet which can pierce any skin and go through any material on the planet. No armor will be thick enough, strong enough, to resist it. I think that would be something interesting that your people could find very useful,” she stated, hoping she had his focus now.

 

The left eyebrow of the man twitched, and she now she knew for certain he was interested. “I would agree. Tell me, is this bullet ready?”

 

“No, but it is being worked on around the clock, and as soon as it is ready, we’ll be ready to demonstrate for you.”

 

“Very good. We will contact you. You do not contact us. At all. Now, if you are working for anyone and planning on betraying us, you will be dead,” he said, his response once again cold.

 

“I will not betray you,” Cindy responded, matching his tone.

 

“Goodbye, Ms. Adams.” He stood up from the table and walked out of the room.

 

* * *

 

  
  


**Baron Von Strucker POV.**

 

As Baron walked out to the doorway, he stopped and turned back to look at Cindy for a single moment, and found her was holding the picture of her brother. He turned away once more and walk out of the restaurant. As soon he walked on the sidewalk, he got out his cell and picked out a very specific contact and called them.

 

_Ring. Ring. Click_. Baron could hear the sound of someone breathing.

 

“Was the intel correct?” the person asked.

 

“Yes, it was completely accurate.”

 

“So, what do you advise?”

 

“Full surveillance on everyone. The second that bullet is ready, I want to know,” he replied as he began walking.

 

“Yes, I agree. We will get the best ones on them. Do you believe them in what they say?”

 

“Yes, they want blood.” Baron smirked. “We can do that.”

 

“And then after?”

 

“They will either support us or drown in their own blood.”

 

“I agree.” A moment passed before two very important words were uttered. “Hail Hydra!”

 

“Hail Hydra!” was the answer. Baron ended the call with a heavy finger, before getting out of the street.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> Next Chapter will be posted on Saturday


	5. Frank and Matt

**New Mexico**

**May 5,2013**

A piercing, sharp sound filled the darkened room and was quickly followed by a deep groaning. An arm made its way out from under the covers of a soft bed, reaching over to the dresser; The fingers fumbled around until they felt the familiar rectangular shape of a cell phone. The hand grabbed the phone and brought it over to its body, quickly disabling the alarm and soon dropping the phone on the bed. There were a few seconds of peaceful silence before an “Uuugghhh. Fuck,” was mumbled out from the bed and a man lifted himself up above the dark green covers. The man with simple brown hair scrubbed his hands over his face a few times, attempting rub the sleep out of his eyes. His shoulders were drooped and it was obvious that he had little motivation right now.

 

Half an hour later, he had completed his morning routine of getting ready for the daily lie. Yes, the daily lie; the one where he tells everyone that he’s okay-doing great. That things are looking up, which he would prove with a big smile and a fake laugh at the stupid jokes others tell. Why the daily lie? Because it was a hell of alot easier to fool people than it was to try to explain the constant feeling of anger and thirst for revenge. At least once every night, he had the nightmare of Mary dying and the memory of how it felt when he saw the news footage of the Green Monster that had killed his cousin, Henry. Ù had immediately called Matt, screaming into the phone. Then, he’d seen the blond hair and the red cape. It was him, the asshole that had gotten Mary killed.

 

The psychiatrist had told him he was wrong; Mary had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. ‘Bullshit. Mary would be alive if he never would have came there,’ he thought.

 

Frank had then changed the story, electing to tell people that the man brought the robot there and that he’d wanted to fight it in the middle of town. This adapted story of the events included the man laughing at Frank holding Mary’s dead burnt body-making BBQ jokes- and that all the M.I.B. had done was threaten to arrest anyone that would not comply. The final detail he added was that they had ripped Mary out of his arms and had thrown him down on the ground. He hadn’t been able to believe his eyes when he saw that murderer smashing the aliens, trying to act like a hero. ‘ _You think this will clear you of your past crimes? Fuck you! I will hunt you down and kill you!_ ’

 

After his talk with Matt, they’d come up with the game plan; They would make a new bullet. a version of the Raufoss Mk 211 high explosive round. The head of it would be made of silicon-carbide vibranium alloy, with the feet per second of the round, and the accuracy of a Barrett M82 50 cal.

 

It would change the world forever, and in Matt and Frank’s eyes, for the better. Frank had worked as a bullet manufacturer for a few years. He had been doing okay there, but then everything had happened. Now he had a new goal, a more righteous goal. He’d begun studying everything he could to learn about how to make bullet heads so that he could make the heads and attach them. The manufacturer had noticed his sudden drive, so they’d sent him to a nice shrink for the typical conversation just to make sure he wasn’t crazy. Frank had easily convinced them that he was okay, that he just wanted to do better in life. The doctor had signed off on him-not actually caring about Franks-and he had soon been promoted for his hard work.

 

Over the next few months, he had learned everything about what needed to be done; when Matt actually came through and got what they needed, Frank would be ready to go. It was going to be a long process, and he wanted to make sure everything was right; there was a lot riding on this. Matt had done his end, and Cindy was getting the hitman, or hitmen. She was putting up a lot of money, more then Frank had even known she’d had. Frank knew he had to do his part and succeed. He was going as far as to take other metals to test making the heads, so that way he knew exactly what he was doing when it was time to make the reason for all of his struggle; his true hope, his true revenge.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**May 7, 2013**

 

Matt had finally brought the materials to him, and the two of them began working long hours in their obsession to finish the bullet.

 

Frank could only sleep a couple of hours at a time before he was bursting with the urge to go back to work. Eventually, his late night and early mornings lead to mistakes, something Matt didn’t appreciate. “Frank, you can’t do it all, right now. You’re going to end up screwing up and ruining everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve," Matt told him honestly.

 

“I can handle it," he replied, stubbornly. “Relax. It'll be fine."

 

“No, I’m not taking any chances here." Matt stated, he refused to allow Frank to mess this up. “I risked everything-including going to a federal prison-to get this stuff to you. Now, you’ve got the time to work carefully. Use it!” Matt ordered.

 

“Okay, fine!” He sighed before admitting to himself something needed to give. “I’ll take some time off."

 

“Good. You’re not allowed to work on this until you get a good night of sleep. We need to be perfect here." “Fuck you! You wouldn’t know this shit from a hole in the ground. You need me. You can’t do anything without me. If I can’t work on it, then neither can you," Frank replied, paranoid after so long without sleep. “I’m not the one that’s falling asleep at work and at the wheel,” Matt shot back. “What would happen if you died in a car accident or at work? Goddammit, you selfish fuckball, I’ve lost enough family already."

 

“Fuckball?!? What the hell is a fuckball?” He let out a light laugh as he finally realized the complete truth, this was one of his only family left and Frank wasn’t going to push him out. “You always were creative with words. What the hell does that even mean?"

 

“Fuckball? I have no idea.” Matt said, his posture a lot more relaxed. “I love you, Frank. You and Cindy are all I have left," he said, baring his soul.

 

“I know. I’m sorry, okay? I’ll go in tonight and then take some time off and get a good night of sleep," he promised. “All right, good. Just to make things fair, I won’t do anything until you get back home." Just as they reached a consensus,

 

Matt’s cell phone went off. Ring. Ring. “Hello… Hey, Cindy, what’s up? Really... Excellent... Yes, we’re making progress. Hopefully by the end of the next month, we’ll be able to go... Really?... Wow, that’s good to hear!... No price yet? That’s odd… Yes, we trust you... Okay, Cindy… Yes... We love you. Stay in touch." Click.

 

Frank stood there, waiting patiently for Matt to explain the phone call to him; It had sounded positive to him. “Cindy said that her contacts are really expensive, but she thinks she can handle that part.

 

Frank, she really believes that these are the right people for us," Matt said with a hopeful tone that he hadn’t had for a long while. “Good. The last thing we need is for some rookie to mess things up." Frank took a deep breath. “Alright, I’m going to go shower and take a nice long nap. We can pick up tomorrow night after dinner, deal?” He looked Matt in the eye. “Yes, deal," Matt agreed earnestly.

 

\-----------

 

Later that night, as Frank got to work, he submitted three weeks of time off. His boss was glad to see him take time off, since the last time he’d taken time off was when Mary had been killed.

 

Frank had been asked where he was going to go and answered that he might go east. ‘ _Oh well, what’s another lie?’_ he thought, far calmer about this than he should have been.

* * *

 

 

**24 hours later**

 

The two cousins felt recharged after a day of catching up on sleep and eating a good dinner- finally homecooked.

By the next morning, they had completed it; the first bullet had been created. They were beyond excited. This was their entire life now. They both had hurried outside to their makeshift gun range, and Frank brought his Barrett M82 out-he named it Sally. After a tension filled with a few seconds of deep breaths, he opened the chamber, put the bullet in, and loaded the gun with a smooth click.

 

Matt stood to one side with a fire extinguisher, not that it would really do any good if the gun blew up in Frank’s hands. Needless to say, they weren’t all that confident that their first version would work.

 

The target was an old car that was parked about four hundred feet away. It had already been pretty shot up, but would be ideal for what they needed it for today. Frank rested the gun on a picnic table on the left side of his house. There was so much hope and so many prayers that had gone into this moment.

 

Frank lined up the site with target. With a glance at the ribbon tied to one of the trees, he observed that there was no wind. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Within a second, his eyes snapped opened.

 

He felt good about the shot, as he liked to every time he fired a gun. His finger was on the trigger with the safety off. With a small tug, their future shot off. There was a loud crack that had Frank cringing. For a second, everything stood still. Then there was the flash of the explosion going off in the engine block of the car.

Matt yelled out with joy, shouting out his overwhelming emotion.

Frank just closed his eyes, letting his breath out. They had done it. The first test was a success. It was a true hope, the first they’d had in over a year. A smile actually formed on his lips. His only thought was, _‘Enjoy breathing, you monsters. Your time will end soon.’_ They both knew that they had a lot of tests to go yet, and they were many possible failures to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> Next posting on Monday


	6. Good Morning Agent Hall

**Avenger's Tower**

 

**May 5, 2013**

 

In a darkened room, a figure snored, sleeping deeply; it was the perfect picture of utter peace. Suddenly, the rest was interrupted as a Megadeth song blasted through the room. It played for a few seconds, but then began to fade. The man started to move, rubbing his eyes.

 

"Jarvis, was that really necessary? I'm pretty sure you don't wake up any of the other Avengers that way."

 

_"In fact, Agent Hall. I use this same method with Sir, as it's the only thing that will actually wake him up. However, he prefers AC/DC."_

 

"Whatever," the man grumbled in annoyance, ruffling a hand through his messy hair. "Alright, what's happening? Why'd you wake me?"

 

_"According to some emails I've perused, the White House will be calling you today. I only assumed that you'd like to be awake and ready for their call."_

 

"Oh joy," Robert said flatly, he was not looking forward to that. "That's just great. I can't wait to see what stupidness this is going to be," he paused, dropping the sarcastic tone for a moment. "Got any ideas what it's going to be about?"

 

_"No, Agent Hall, the emails were not specific in that regard."_

 

"Oh wonderful, I love surprises."

 

_"Your sense of sarcasm is noted, Agent Hall."_

 

With that, Robert got out of bed, took a shower, and got dressed in a simple shirt and a pair of jeans. He made his way upstairs, noticing that Clint, Bruce, Loki and Tony were already gathered; probably for exercising or target practice. By the way they were all relaxed, you wouldn't immediately realize they they had just won a fight against Dr. Doom when he sent his doombots out. However, the dark circles under their eyes and lack of sleep on their faces gave an indication.

 

"Morning there, sunshine," Barton greeted with a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

 

"The dead have finally risen," Banner added.

 

"Fuck off, Barton and Bruce. Everyone's rubbing off on you," Hall answered as he poured some coffee into his Stitch mug.

 

"We're all honored that you've decided to bless us with your glorious presence," Loki commented, joining in on the teasing.

 

"Don't get snippy with me," Robert shot back at Loki, he didn't have enough sleep. "It's not my fault you froze the police cars and Natasha last night."

 

"Well if Iron-klutz had been watching where he was flying, he wouldn't have hit me." Loki defended, while glaring at him.

 

Tony looked like he was about to fire back, but Robert got his words in first. It was too goddamn early for this crap. "Okay, whatever, save it for the afternoon meeting." He grumbled, before taking a breath and continuing. "Anyways, the reason I am up at this ridiculous hour, is because Jarvis intercepted some emails concerning me; The White House is probably going to call me today. He thought it would be best for me to be awake beforehand. Just remind me to tell Fury when he gets here if they haven't called by then, because you know that's when they'll call. And no, I do not have the slightest idea what they want."

 

The rest of the morning went by with a nice breakfast and civilized conversation.

 

Natasha finally turned up and joined everybody in the early afternoon; nobody brought up the fact that she had slept in late. Robert wasn't sure if it was because she had been accidentally frozen by Loki the previous night or because they just generally feared her reaction if any of them brought it up.

 

Robert thought back to what happened immediately after Natasha had been froze, Tony and Clint had attempted to defrost her with Thor's help and Robert had to stop them from melting her; they knew she'd had to be thawed a little slower, but were acting on emotions. So with Jarvis' advice, they'd been able to get her out of the ice cube before she had suffocated. She had thankfully suffered no side effects, but it drained her. Luckily, she wasn't mad; She knew it had been accident and didn't blame Loki. Regardless, Loki was very cautious in going near her now, wary of any retaliation.

 

Steve, on the other hand, did not deal with the freezing incident that well; he had a few PTSD flashbacks from when he crashed into the ice and lost 70 years of his life. He was still trying to work through those issues, Pepper, Betty and Robert all worked together to help him once they got back to the tower.

 

He pulled himself out of his own thoughts, he needed to focus on today. Robert focused on work and found himself a few hours later working with Jarvis on the team's mission. He heard a knock on the door, and as he looked up he noticed who it was and waved him him. "Hey, Thor. What's up? Everything okay? You've been quiet today."

 

"Yes, Hall, everything is fine. Or I believe it is, however… I am concerned about what might happen to my brother due to what happened last night."

 

"Oh that, I wouldn't worry about it," Robert replied instantly, reassuring the gentle giant. "It is hard to control what happens on a battlefield, things like this are bound to happen; you know that. Nobody was injured and I don't think Natasha holds a grudge against him. The worst I can see her doing is probably a good prank, but nothing more."

 

"Thank you, Hall. Your words give me comfort. I overheard you this morning, about this White House. Can you explain this to me?" Thor asked him earnestly.

 

"Of course I can. Basically, it's where our America's leader, the president, stays while he's still in office," he explained simply.

 

"Office?" Thor questioned blankly.

 

"Ah geez," Robert mumbled, going in to explain America's system of government. "In our country, the citizens elect our leader. Every four years, certain people can run for the position of President. They tour the country and try to get the people to vote for them. Then everyone who is allowed to vote has the choice of whether to vote or not. The person with the most votes wins the job." Robert didn't bother mentioning the electoral college, not wanting to be there all night explaining America's complicated government in one sitting. "That's it in a nutshell."

 

"Interesting. What do you mean 'allowed to vote?' Does not every man receive an equal say?"

 

"Well, you have to be a registered citizen of this country, over the age of eighteen, and have no felonies, the latter is more complicated," Robert informed him.

 

"So that means I will be allowed to vote, correct?"

 

Robert thought for a second, wanting to provide the correct answer. "That's right. You and Loki are citizens of this country, so yes, you're allowed to vote." Robert remembered that when he first met the two demigods, the government gave them citizenship.

 

"Ah, that is wonderful. I look forward to this glorious election event!" And with that, he left the room, leaving Robert just shaking his head.

 

"Why do I have a horrible feeling that this is going to end in disaster somehow?" he muttered to himself.

* * *

 

Later in the day, Fury and Hill showed up at the tower to go over the mission and other essential things. Fury knew about the White House's call from his extensive intel. So it was not a surprise when Roberts phone went off during a childish argument between Tony, Clint, and Fury. Robert slammed his hand on the table before he answered it; which silenced everybody.

 

"Hello. Speaking… Very well thank you, and yourself?… Yes, they are all present… Um, Yes including Directors Fury and Hill… Really… Wow… Well, I guess if he says to come for dinner… Eight o'clock tonight, got it. Who's going to be there?... No shit… Okay then, well, we shall not disappoint… Have a nice day… Yes, goodbye."

 

As he hung up the phone, he rose from his chair and cracked his neck to the right. He glanced around the room and noticed that everyone was looking at him; obviously interested and curious.

 

"Well, that was the Chief of staff to the President. We are all invited- well, more like ordered- to be there tonight at eight P.M. We will have dinner with the President, Vice-President, Secretary of State, Secretary-General of the United Nations, along with the leaders of Mexico and Canada." As he finished speaking, pretty much everyone- with the exception Loki and Thor- were shocked. These were elites. Sure, Tony was used to dealing with the elite, but he hadn't even met the Secretary-General.

 

"I'm going to guess that they didn't tell you why?" Bruce asked, hopefully.

 

"Nope, they didn't even drop a hint. I'm pretty sure it won't be that bad, especially considering they would have the top two people of the government in the same building," Robert replied.

 

"Well, I guess we should all get ready. Are we allowed to take plus ones with us?" Tony asked.

 

"Oh yes, we're allowed that as well," Robert answered while looking at Maria. They'd been taking things slow, but do always enjoyed each other's company.

 

Maria turned her head and blushed a little; they hadn't gone a date in two weeks. The meeting came to a casual end and they all left to go and get ready.

* * *

 

**Loki's POV.**

 

Loki went into his apartment and closed the door; he felt intrigued about this dinner. He was curious to see how the leaders of this planet worked. His thoughts drifted onto a certain woman that he had been spending a lot of time with lately. Right on cue, he heard a knock on his door.

 

He waved his wrist a little and the door magically opened, and what burst in his room was a bubbly, happy, excited-about-political-science Darcy Lewis. "LOKI! Can you believe it? The White House, isn't that awesome!"

 

"Well, I guess. I haven't decided to go or not. I am not one to be told what to do," he replied with disdain in his voice.

 

"Oh, really... yeah, you don't like that, do you," Darcy responded, her mood deflated slightly since she had come in.

 

"No, and do you know what I hate even more?" Loki asked leadingly, his face turned mean.

 

"Happy people?" she questioned as she took a step back, playfully concerned.

 

"No; disappointing my Lady," Loki stated, offering her a smile. "So yes, we are going."

 

"You fucking jackass! Okay, you got me good," she laughed as she leant forward and hugged him.

* * *

 

Later on that night, a Stark Industries Jet flew towards DC: Jane and Darcy were excited; Natasha and Clint were being threatened by Robert about having any weapons on them; Pepper and Betty were reminding Tony and Bruce to behave and not hack into networks; Loki and Thor were asking Steve and Fury questions about the environment of the United States government; Maria was smiling at Robert who was sitting next to her, the two of them engaged in small talk; and finally, Steve was as excited as anyone- he was hoping to meet the President.

 

They finally landed at the airport, and the excited team the luxury jet. There were three limos with armed Secret Service, police, and FBI agents all waiting. Loki, Thor, and Bruce immediately became concerned.

 

Robert quickly explained that it was simply security procedures; however, Thor and Loki didn't really understand-they could defend themselves. "Okay, allow me to explain it in a different way." He started over, explaining more simply. "You two are foreign diplomats in the US, therefore they want to ensure that your visit is safe and protected."

 

As they got into the limo, Tony, of course, had to make comments that his limos were better. Everyone just rolled their eyes at his prideful comment and shook their heads in an amused manner. As they arrived at the White House, Thor was impressed by the security detail. Loki looked bored, but Darcy was extremely excited, as were Betty and Jane.

 

As Robert got out of the limo, he saw his family; the ones that care about each other with love and honor. He had no idea when they stepped through the doors of the White House, that it would lead to three people ending up possibly being dead.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s notes:  
> Thank you for reading, I’d love a review or two.  
> Next Chapter will be up on Tuesday


	7. Plan B

**May 6, 2013**

While flying home from the White House, Robert found himself staring out the window at the night sky. He could feel a mighty headache starting.  _ ‘How the fuck am I going to convince the entire world that Loki is a good guy?’ _ he thought with a strong sense of despair, before he felt a soft, warm hand on top of his  hand . As he turned he saw the warm eyes and soft lips.

“Earth to Robert. You okay? You seem very distant," Maria noted him with deep concern. She was trusting, but he was always afraid that he’ll let her down or would be overwhelmed. 

Robert just smiled. “Yeah. I’m just remembering a time when my life was a little simpler. Now, I seem to be of the habit of putting myself in impossible situations.”  He smiled more sincerely as he admired how she smiled back at him. They simply enjoyed those few moments of just looking at each other.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure with everyone’s help, you will figure it out. If it goes south, Fury will be there to yell at you-just blame Stark.” she joked lightheartedly. He looked up and saw Tony sit down across from them with a drink in hand.

Tony spoke with a slight slur, “So, lover boy, how the hell did you hook up with Oprah? She has a wait list of six months, and that’s just to be  _ considered. _ She won’t even talk to me because she doesn’t consider me interesting enough for some messed up reason.”

Robert rolled his eyes. “No, Tony. She told me she wouldn’t talk to you because at that time, you were an alcoholic, selfish, and very childish. She had enough of those idiots already to interview, you had nothing to offer at that moment.”

“Whatever. Her loss. I’m over it,” he said with a lazy shrug as he stood up and sat besides Bruce and Betty instead.

Maria let out a small sigh. “Yeah, Tony is over it like the Eagles are over losing the Super Bowl in 2004,” she commented with a smirk. They both knew that would annoy him.

“Geez, thanks for reminding me," Robert sarcastically answered , giving her a joking glare.

Maria turned to look Robert in the eye with her soft lips curling upwards teasingly. “Oops, I forgot that you liked them for some strange reason.” She gave him an innocent look with a twinkle in her eye.

Robert shook his head. “Bullshit." He leaned over, his hands on each side of her face to pull her closer so that he could kiss the top of her head. Maria moved a little closer to snuggle, and her head coming to rest on his shoulder. He didn’t bother to hide the smile on his face, which only grew when she planted a small kiss on his neck. 

The rest of the flight home was quiet and peaceful. How were they supposed to know that their peaceful times would be shattered so soon?

**May 7th,2013**

 

The next day, Robert, Thor, and Loki were sitting at table discussing what items  Asgard would want from Earth, or vice versa. Robert was starting to regret the decision of allowing Thor to participate in the conversation as he felt his blood pressure rising.

“Thor, I’m pretty sure that not everyone on Asgard would want Pop-Tarts as much as you. I don’t want the universe to see the Earth as a bunch of junk food losers.” Robert sighed, running a hand over his face as he explained once again, the type of things they should be taking. “I’m trying to be reasonable here. What about clothes, machines, medicine, or a million other things that we could trade with your people? I don’t think we need to send anymore food.”

Thor’s face lit up. He had an idea. “Hmm, you have made a valid point. Can we also add in Midgard's weapons? With the Terminator Movies too?” 

Loki just let his head flop on the table and then he did it again, making a moaning sound.

“Why did we allow him in this conversation again, Loki?” Robert frustratedly stated as he leaned back his chair.

“I don’t know. If you remember, please remind me,” Loki replied back, while shaking his head.

“Okay. Thor, we have no idea how food is going to be transferred and how much weight the Bifrost can handle.” Robert was trying to get the conversation back on track Two princes looked at each other with puzzled faces. Robert immediately knew the answer. “I’m going to take a wild guess that you both don’t know. I mean, this is important. Are we talking a few hundred pounds or several tons? How often can it be used?”

“Nobody knows for sure. I remember the one time, it handled by Odin, Loki, Lady Sif, Warriors Three and I, and Odin was on  Sleipnir,” Thor answered, obviously reminiscing from the look in his eyes.

“Okay, well, that sounds like close to three tons. I guess it will be a process to see what happens. Anyways, Loki, you come with me. We have to meet Steve and Pepper about your interview.”

“I don't understand this matter; Why do we have to do this? I’m known as silver tongue anyway. I know how to handle this,” he replied cockily, dismissing Robert.

“The last thing I need is for you to say something and piss everybody off more. What’s your reaction if she asks about your children?" Immediately, his face turned hard and he had a death glare, but Loki’s eyes flickered to his, Robert made the  _ ‘I told you so’  _ face.

“Fine, let’s go," Loki mumbled, giving in. “Why is Steve there?” He questioned as his shoulders dropped down.

“Because he will be nice, supportive, and will be able to give a different opinion than the rest of us. Plus, he’s not a jackass - like Tony- so he can add moral insight.”

“Fair enough,” Loki replied, seeming to accept the answer.

Four hours later, Tony turned up and everything turned chaotic; Tony started to crack jokes and Loki lost his temper slightly, throwing a soda can at him. Tony ducked to avoid getting hit, but it accidently hit Bruce, who was walking by with Betty; He nearly hulked out. Thankfully, Betty was able to calm Bruce down. 

Pepper and Betty then both made death threats to Tony, who immediately left.

It was two hours later that they had all finally calmed down completely and felt comfortable with each other. “Why does this have to be  _ live? _ I’ve seen plenty of interviews that are taped." Loki questioned as they leaving the room to go to dinner.

“Okay, that’s a fair question.” Robert admitted before thinking of the possible reasons why being live would be better. “This needs to appear truthful and not edited. You’re really sorry that you killed hundreds of lives. You  _ are _ sorry, right?”

“Yes, I do feel bad; I wish I hadn’t caused so much damage or any as a matter of fact, while under Thanos’ control,” Loki answered.

“Alright, then. Hopefully this works, because the entire planet will be watching. I’m sure it will be rebroadcasted all over the world again and again.” Robert commented, crossing his fingers discretely. 

“Agent Hall?” Loki stopped and turned around to face the agent.

“Yes, Loki?” Robert asked as he came to a stop, wondering what will come out of his mouth next.

“Do you honestly think this will work?” 

Robert felt that the words were the most genuine and honest that Loki had been during the whole discussion. “Are you going to change everyone? No! Of course not. Maybe you can convince a billion or so, and we can only go up from there.”

_____________________________________________________________________

 

Later that night, Robert was working on his computer when he heard his phone go off. He checked it and saw it was Maria calling, a smile formed on his lips as he answered the call. “Hey, Maria, to what do I owe this pleasure?” He felt his heart beat a little faster, and a warm feeling built up inside him.

“Unfortunately, I wish, I was calling with better news.”

He felt all that positivity come crashing down. “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?” He asked, not bothering to keep the concern from his voice.

“The council’s not happy. They found out about the United Nation and the North American government’s plans. They don’t like these things happening without their consent.”

“So? Fuck them. Tell them to pull the stick out of their asses and go die in a hole. I swear to God, Maria.” Robert felt his temper getting ahold of him, but he knew it wasn’t Maria’s fault. 

“I wish it was that easy. Also, they believe Barton and Loki are a threat.”

“A threat? Bullshit!” Robert exclaimed. “The real threat is going to be when Natasha and Darcy hear about this; they’re going to go ballistic.”

“I know. That’s why I am telling you this now.”

Suddenly, there was a pounding at the door. ”Hall, I know your ass is in there!” 

Robert heard a woman scream outside the door.

“Wow, news spreads quickly. Thanks for the warning.” Robert was honestly grateful for the advanced notice.

“Good luck." _ Click. _ And just like that, Maria was gone.

Robert looked at his phone as he shook his head and thought,  _ ‘Geez, love you too _ .’ He walked over to the door and opened it, and there was Darcy, with major a pissed-off look.

“I’m going to take a wild guess at what you’re pissed off about. I just found out myself”

The raging woman just looked at Robert, and her face softened. “Can you help him?”

Robert motioned for Darcy to come in, and as the door closed, you could see Robert giving her a hug.

“So, how did you find out?” As he let her go, she looked up to him.

“I was doing my usual hacking and just came across it. Natasha is going to be furious. Loki’s pissed; he was talking about not doing the interview.” Darcy felt her eyes get misty.

“That might be the understatement of the century. Look, go to him, comfort him. You know damn well that I’m going to keep everyone safe. He needs to do that interview. Otherwise, I don’t know what to do." His brown eyes just showed how much he cared.

“I know that, Robert. Thank you. It’s just, Loki and Clint, I just care about them,” she said sadly as a tear fell down her cheek.

“I understand. I really do. I need to start making phone calls." He wiped away the tear and gave her another hug before she walked out of the room. He was going to do everything he could to fix this. 

_____________________________________________________________________

"Stupid fucking idiots!" Robert yelled out in his apartment, just finishing a forty-five minute phone conversation about Agent Barton. He flopped in his recliner, rubbing his head and placing his feet on the table. Suddenly, in a moment of rage, he kicked the table over; it flipped over and landed on one of the legs, which caused it to snap in half. "Fuck!" Robert was pissed off. “Goddamn World Council; I will find a way to end you.”

"Sorry," came a faint whisper from the air vent in the ceiling.

"Barton, get your ass out here." Barton came out of the vents with a sheepish look on his face. "How long, and how much?" Robert felt his face flushed with anger.

"Um, since the beginning of the conversation," Clint admitted to the stern-faced agent.

"Damn it, Barton, you weren't supposed to be involved. I’m trying my hardest to get people away from you. I hate to say it, but it’s much easier to help Banner out than you."

"I know," Clint sighed, leaning up against the wall as he ran a hand through his hair. "I think quitting the team will make everything easier. I know Natasha and Steve have taken some flack because of me."

"One; no, don't you ever talk like that again. I refuse to let Bruce quit, so what makes you think I'll let you up and leave? Two; If Romanoff and Rogers knew you were even considering it, they'd beat your head in. They're old enough to handle themselves. Three, nothing is going to happen to you."

"How long do you think that's even going to last, huh? Those fuckers still think I'm a liability, and Fury can only do so much. The council is in charge of him, and they can go over his head, just like they did in New York." Barton was frustrated; even after six months, there was so much doubt about his character. "They act like I'm worthless to the team, and I'm starting to regret ever joining."

"Cut the crap, Barton, because it's you who's pissing me off. You know you're good for this team; without you, the team would have gone to shambles months ago. You are needed on this team just like everyone else. You watch everybody's backs and inform them when they're in danger. Plus, who the hell else can shoot an arrow a half a mile and hit a robot frog in the eye? Only the best damn shot in the world, which just so happens to be you."

"I’m sorry, Barton. This is my fault, too." Loki suddenly appeared in the room, looking downtrodden. "In all honesty, if I could reverse the events, I would. You shouldn't be forced to suffer for what I did.”

“Don’t you start, either.” Robert ordered, sternly. “Now look, both of you. You had no control in what you were doing. I know it sucks, but I’m asking for both of you to trust me.”

“What are you going to do?” Loki asked the agent.

“Simple. We go to Plan B."

“What is plan B?” Clint questioned.

With a big smile, Robert looked at the two Avengers. “Hiroshima. Ring a bell?”

_ \--Line Break-- _

A little while later on, Robert had just gotten off the phone with Fury. When Jarvis spoke,  _ “Agent Hall, Agent Romanoff is headed to your door, and she is in a mood.” _

“A Mood?, What kind of mood?”

_ “I believe the best description is ‘Scary’.” _

“Oh, fucking great. Open the door, and have the others on standby.”

_ “Of course, Agent Hall, and good luck.” _

Romanoff slammed the door open and got up into Robert’s face within seconds, “What the hell is going on? Why is the council after Barton? He is majorly depressed right now! Is Fury going to let him get taken? Why haven’t you done anything? You better start talking Hall.”

“Okay, I was on the phone with Fury and the moron council for an hour defending Barton. You know damn well I am doing my best to protect him.” Robert replied firmly, not appreciating the amount of questions and accusations thrown at him. “Yes, Fury is trying to protect him as well, but his hands are tied. I am trying to come up with a plan B, to help him. So get off my back.”

Natasha’s face soften only slightly, most would miss it. “I apologise. He made the call- he saved me- I owe him my life. I don’t have many friends; He’s helped me in so many ways; I feel helpless on this.” She admitted looking away from him. 

“I know, I am trying my hardest.” 

As she looked back at him, he noticed her face had changed in a way he never thought was possible with her; Her eyes said everything, she loved him as a sister and would die for him. He was her world, and god help anyone that threatened her love. Hers lips quivered slightly with everything that was going on, she looked at a loss of what to do.

**_Natasha’s POV._ **

She is the Black Widow. She was not allowed feel this. But this is Clint, her Clint. How dare they pass judgement.  _ Wait what is Hall doing? Why is he raising his arms? What does he think he’s doing? Is he actually hugging me? How dare he hug me! _ “Is he going to be okay?” The words escape her mouth, before she could catch them, but she did not return the hug, just scooted away from him. 

“Believe me,  Moy dragotsennyy krasnyy pauk, (My precious red spider),  when I say. I will kill to keep him safe, if I have to.” 

As Natasha looked back into Robert’s brown eyes, she could have sworn they got a little darker. She felt her heart actually believe he would .

______________________________________________________________________

**May 8, 2013**

  
  


The next day during breakfast, Robert told the team what was going on. Naturally, it was an uproar. After a while, everyone calmed down, and discussed ways to solve the problem, skipping all assassination options. It was actually Jane that gave Robert an idea. “The World Council is stupid. I mean, we have a Security Council at the U.N. What gives them the right to launch a nuclear missile into a country?”

“Holy shit, Jane, that is it!” Robert yelled out with joy. “I bet the rest of the world doesn’t know about the World Council and that they would be pissed off if they knew that this group of people could just launch a missile into their country with no explanation or accountability.”

“I would be pissed," Tony added. “Jarvis, start searching for any paperwork or anything about this matter.”

_ “Yes, Sir, I will let you know what I find out. Sir, just to let you know, the TV Promo for Loki is about to air.” _

“Cool, Jarvis . Put it on the screen, please.”

The giant screen turned on with the volume up and the lights dimmed.

_ ‘Oprah Winfrey has been hailed as one of the greatest reporters of our time. She is known for heart, caring, and compassionate feelings; but she is also tough. She helped uncover the abuse scandal of Nike shoes; the corruption of Hammer Industries; the embezzlement of the Charities for the Battle of New York; and now, she is going to sit down with the man who has become the face of evil in our time. He is compared with Stalin, Hitler, Hussein, Satan: Loki, God of Lies and Chaos. _

_ Or is he?! Is he a victim, a person that was not able to make that choice? Was he a victim of abuse and neglect? Oprah Winfrey wants to know. She wants to give him the chance to sit down in front of our world and explain what really happened. She wants to answer the rumors. Does he live on Earth? Is it true that he is an actual member of the same people that defeated him? Is he truly sorry?’ _

Oprah with a stern face appeared on the screen. “I will give Loki the chance that he deserves to explain the truth, because as we all know the truth is the only answer that Earth deserves.”

_ ‘Next Friday at 8pm EST, on all news channels, YouTube, and SONY Network.’ _

The TV turned off, and the lights came back on. Loki just stared at Robert. “Who came up with that ad?" he growled.

“Actually, Jarvis, Pepper, Jane, Darcy, me, Tony and the P.R. Department of Stark Industries. Look, Loki, we trie….” Loki stood up and walked over to Darcy.

You could tell she was scared that he was going to snap. Suddenly, he picked her up out of the chair. “I have only thing to say to you,” he said in a dark voice.

“What?” Everyone was ready to jump to save her, when he pulled her close and hugged her. 

“Thank you. It is perfect. You guys really do care.”

“You jackass, you scared me. I thought you were going to go psycho on me!” With that, they kissed each other.

Everyone just took a deep breath and relaxed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be posted on Tuesday


	8. The Meeting

**Undisclosed Location**

**Slovakia**

**May 12,2013**

 

It had been built over seven hundred years ago and had served as a staging location for the crusades. Many gruesome battles and cringe worthy deaths had occurred there. Kings and Queens with their royal courts had played out their little games on the top of the mountain.

Its new occupants have been living there for fifteen years now. No one in town had the guts to talk about them. If you were caught being nosey, you weren’t seen again. 

There was a variety of defenses against trespassers: armed guards with orders to kill; an electric fence which had enough power to kill; motion sensors which can calculate the size of the intruder.

On the inside, it was strict and orderly; the troops never smiled. At one of the desks, a soldier was finishing up a report. He stood up a few sentences later and made his way to his superior officer.

“Sir, latest intel reports,” the soldier said with the utmost respect.

The officer accepted the reports from him and dismissed him with a lazy wave. As he read over them, a small smile appeared on his face. He stood up from his desk quickly and turned around to walk over to a thick oak door. With a tight fist, he knocked three times.

“Come in,” came the sharp order from the other side. The officer took a breath and opened the door. 

“Hail Hydra!” he greeted with a firm voice, before saluting the man behind the desk. 

“Hail Hydra!” the man replied as he too, saluted.

“The latest reports from New Mexico, Baron” He handed the report to the very serious man. 

Baron adjusted his  monocle as he read through it, a little smirk growing on his face. ”So they actually made the bullet , ” Baon said more than asked. “Excellent. I think it is time to contact them and arrange a meeting. We can settle on a price there. Prepare my jet, would you , ” Baron commanded. “Oh, and contact the Winter Soldier. I believe it’s time.” 

“Hail Hydra!” The officer, knowing what his orders were, 

“Hail Hydra!”  Baron Von Strucker answered

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**New Mexico** , **24 Hours Later**

 

After completing numerous tests, Matt and Frank decided that they should celebrate their good fortune. They went out to a local bar, a favorite of theirs. Frank was pleased when he realised that it wasn’t very busy before ordering a pitcher of beer and some simple bar appetizers; The food was okay, but it wasn’t like they expected a seven course meal and the finest wine, anyway.

Then both of their expressions changed as they glanced up at the television; they saw a commercial that had them both coughing as they choked on their food temporarily. They could not believe their eyes. Immediately Matt’s phone went off. Frank glanced at the call ID and saw that it was Cindy before Matt answered the call.

“Hello?... Yes , Cindy… We know... Yes I can’t believe it… What?... The Avengers...” Images of the team appeared on the screen: Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Loki . “Oh my god, the whole team of monsters, Hulk and Thor too… Okay , can you get a hold of them… No? What do you mean no? They’ll get in touch with us?... Are you sure? Well , you should call them... Of course I trust you… Okay… Goodbye . ”

As Matt hung up the phone, Frank could tell he was pissed. He had that look in his eyes. “She said that they’ll contact us when they’re ready.” 

“Who is they?” Frank asked.

“I don’t know! She won’t tell me the name; she said it would be better for our health.”

“The fuck! Our  _ health? _ We can take of ourselves. Fuck this.” Frank exploded momentarily, he didn’t like the secrets and potential repercussions of working with whomever Cindy had found. 

A man approached the table; he was tall with a blonde buzz-cut and no facial hair. He had on a black dress shirt and just stood there staring at them for a long time.

“What do you want? You got a problem?” Frank challenged angrily, already pissed off.

“What the hell do you want?” Matt questioned dismissively.

“If you were wise, you would listen to your cousin, Cindy. As for your problems, we are the ones that might solve them.” In his a heavy european accent, he almost sounded Russian. “How many tests has the bullet passed?”

Matt and Frank were stunned . Matt looked nervous but Frank was the type that did not back down. He had a gun on him , and started to reach for it. His hand was almost on it , but he stopped as he felt a barrel on his back.

“Now, Mr. Williams, your deceased sister would be greatly upset if you were to be killed before you could avenge her death , s o let’s not do anything rash.” Frank knew he had no chance , so he let his hands fall to his sides ; he knew when to give it up. The man behind him removed Frank’s gun and put it in his jacket.

“Now, please, if you don’t mind, let’s talk somewhere more private . T here is business to discuss,” Frank and Matt looked nervously at each other. “Relax, let’s get going , We’re not in the business of losing contacts before we discuss details . Besides , Cindy will be here in three hours with my superior.”

The cousins looked shocked. Matt had spoken to Cindy less than fifteen minutes ago. She hadn’t said anything about coming out. The blond man saw their confusion and concern . “After she hung up the phone with you , we knocked on her door and told her. So let’s go . O h …” he turned back and pointed to the food. “If you don’t mind , bring your leftovers . It’ll be a long weight .”

Frank and Matt paid their tab and got the leftovers. They got into Frank’s suv , and the blond man got into the back seat. “My partner will follow us . P lease drive normally. Any attempt to hurt us or contact the police, and we will not hesitate to kill your cousin . " They both nodded silently. 

The drive to Frank’s place took twenty minutes. The blond man’s partner pulled in behind Frank’s vehicle-blocking it in- a s they got out of the trucks and walked to the house. Frank unlocked the door, and they all walked in as the lights came on. The two men looked around at the home; it was a mess and helplessly dirty. The Europeans looked at each other with a raised eyebrow.

__________________________________________________________________________

 

**New York City, 30 minutes earlier**

Cindy’s POV

 

Cindy was still shaking; she couldn’t believe her eyes. That motherfucker had just been on TV. How could her government be okay with this? The Avengers were harboring that psycho. She had just gotten off the phone with Matt and was pleased to hear that the bullet was ready.

Cindy smiled as she realised that the chance to avenge Mike was closer. As she closed her eyes, she could see it clear as day as it would happen.

_ It was a darkened room, Loki was chained to a steel table _ .  _ H _ _ e could wiggle a little _ , _ but that was about it. Cindy walked into the room with a long knife in hand, wearing dark blue scrubs.  _

_ “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, you fucking bastard.” Loki had the look of pure fear in his eyes as the sweat poured down from his forehead. He was begging for his life, pleading for mercy. Cindy would have none of that. She felt her blood run cold, her heart actually slowing down a little. Her eyes focused on her target, the source of her hated, and she walked closer to him. _

_ When she was in front of him, she raised the knife, slowly moving closer to him. She was loving the moment, the pure terror in his eyes. Loki was still begging, crying, but she would have none of that _ . _ “You killed him, you led those monsters to him. I want you to feel my pain, the pain of him being ripped from my life. I want you to feel the sorrow of all the children whose parents you killed.”  _

_ Loki kept saying that he was sorry, that it wasn’t his fault. Cindy didn’t care, she lifted the cold blade and gently touched his face, and in one motion _ , _ she chopped off his right ear. He howled in pain, the blood spraying out over the floor in a fine mist. Cindy grabbed a wad of gauze and taped it to his head. Cindy’s smile grew larger _ . _ “Can’t have you bleeding out and dying too quickly now.” _

She was pulled out of her thoughts when there was a loud series of banging at her door. With a shake of her head, she stood up and glanced out of  the window; there were three men standing on her porch. She recognized one of them from the restaurant and opened the door.

“I guess it’s time , ” she said, really hoping that they weren’t here to kill her.

The imposing man in front of her nodded . “Yes. You have ten minutes to gather your things. It is time to talk business.”

____________________________________________________________________________

 

**New Mexico One Hour later**

.

“Make yourself comfortable.” Frank walked to the couch and sat down as Matt sat down in the recliner. “What do you want to know? Or are you just going to wait till everyone gets here?”

The two agents looked at each other .  ”Why do you want these people dead?”

"What do you mean  _ why _ ? They killed our family members and nobody is willing to do anything , s o, we decided to take action ourselves . Many more people will die if they aren’t stopped!" Frank replied forcefully, almost at shouting point.

"Do you know what it's like to lose a brother?” Matt asked rhetorically, a lot calmer than Frank. “What makes it even worse is when it happens right in front of you and there's not a goddamn thing you can do. Well we decided we're going to do something , ” Matt stated .

The blonde man looked at him for a long time, eyes cold. “I  _ do _ know what it's like to lose a brother . My brother  _ and _ my father were killed in front of me because of the American forces  _ doing the right thing _ . _ ”  _ He said , making quotation marks with his fingers . “And they did nothing to help me and my mother. They were killed by troops in a raid . ”

Matt looked at the man with sorrow. ”I'm sorry , I didn't know that . I was out of line.”

The blonde man look at Matt. “It’s fine, we have a common goal now, by the way I am Drake.” 

The other man introduced himself as Nickolas.

For the next few hours , they talked to each other told about the family members they had lost . T he pain they felt helped them actually bond. 

The blond man's phone went off and he answered it. The conversation was brief and he hung up after a few sentences before informing everybody that they had landed at the airport and they will be here in a half hour.

Ten minutes later , Cindy showed up with the others. As they came in , Matt and Frank could see the tall man with an eyeglass on one eye. He definitely had a ‘don't-fuck-with-me’ attitude. 

The other two men saluted the man . "Hail Hydra!" 

“Hail Hydra , ” the man said back

“Oh shit,” Matt said, “When you said your were going to get the right people , you weren't kidding!”

“Yes , that is correct , Dr. Jenkins. Now, let us talk about the deal. You would like to hire us to kill these three people, is that correct?” He waited for them to nod. “Let’s sit and we can discuss the terms . ”

Everyone took as seat as requested and Frank handed out some beer to everyone. After a few minutes of silence , the bald man stood up. 

“I am going to ask one more time. Are you sure you’d like to do this? And remember , if you want this done, there is no turning back.”

He looked at his cousins and they were nodding, so Frank decided to answer for all of them. “Yes. These bastards took our loved ones , T hey should pay,” Frank answered affirmatively.

“How much?” Cindy asked.

“Six million . T wo million per life , and one other condition . ”

“What is the other condition?”

“That you swear the rest of your life to Hydra.” 

“Wait, what?!” Matt burst out in a shock-filled daze, no longer completely calm.

“I don’t understand, why?” Frank asked, confused.

“I do, and yes,” Cindy agreed without question.

“What?!” the two remaining cousins exclaimed.

She looked at her two cousins. “Are you two really that stupid? We’re going to be involved in the assassination of three superheros. We will have every single law enforcement agency on the planet after us. We’re going to need protection, new identities, new lives, and they are probably the only ones that can do it.”

The bald man looked at her with a little smirk. ”I can see that you are the smart one, and you are correct. The United States, Canadian, and Mexican Governments are planning to make trade agreements with Prince Thor and Loki’s home planet of Asgard. With the cooperation of the United Nations , they want Loki to be the first Ambassador. When we kill them, you will have the whole world after you, and because you might start a war between the two planets, you will have nowhere safe to go.”

“Holy fuck,  _ prince?” _ Matt could not believe his ears. He just wanted revenge, not a war, not to possibly kill more people. Terrorist organizations? He loved his work; he didn't hate America, and needless to say he did not have a poker face.

“Matt, what the fuck? You’d better not be getting cold feet over this. Remember we said all of us are together, there’s no going back.” Frank angrily eyed him.

“It does not matter!” the bald man said loudly . “If you quit now, you will be executed.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's Notes
> 
> Sorry about the delay Hopefully next posting will be on Sunday


	9. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interview between Loki and Oprah

**Avenger’s Tower**

**New York City**

**May 15, 2013**

 

“I’m nervous about this. What if it all goes wrong?” Loki fretted while pacing back and forth. There were cameras and lights everywhere, and was paying extra attention to them to avoid tripping over them while he was there.

“You, nervous? That’s like saying the Tony is a meathead who doesn’t know how to use technology. Why are you nervous?” Darcy smiled as she came up to him with her hand outstretched, waiting to join with Loki’s.

“I’ve never had this done before. What if they don’t accept my answers? What if they still want me dead?” he said as worry swam in his eyes. He reached out to hold her hand; he enjoyed her warmth.

“You’re going to be awesome.” Darcy assured. “You’re going to be truthful and win over the crowd!”

“Sure, all the qualities that I don’t possess,” he mumbled, dropping his head to look at the ground-he was comfortable to show his vulnerability around her.

“That is why I’ll be there to support you.” Darcy reminded him, stepping closer to him. “You told me the truth, right?”

“Yes, I told you everything- about Thor, destroying the bifrost, the void, Thanos, the attack, the mind control, everything.”

He looked up at her, their eyes connecting before he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

“Well, then you should have nothing to worry about.” He turned around and noticed that Agent Robert Hall was smiling in his direction, coming into the room from the elevator. “Listen, this is the safest place to do this. Jarvis will monitor all transmissions so no one can hack us, plus we’re all here. You’ll be fine. I believe in you, we _all_ believe in you. Are you going to convince everyone? Honestly, no, but you do what you can.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an employee meekly approaching him, obviously very nervous. “Um, Prince Loki Laufeyson, five minutes.” Loki nodded to acknowledge him, and the clipboard employee shuffled away quietly.

“Good choice on the name. Look, we’ll be in that section over there, it’ll be okay.” With that, he watched Robert leave and joined everyone else.

Loki turned back to Darcy, realizing that he was still holding her hand, he realised it slowly. “I’ll be right at the front,” she told him, placing her hand on his cheek before walking off.

He watched her leave, taking note of exactly where she was sitting.

**Robert POV**

 

As he sat down with the rest of the Avengers, he felt a familiar touch on his hand, he turned and received a soft kiss on the lips.

“How is he?” Maria asked.

“About as nervous as Steve would be if he was caught in a strip club with dollar bills in hand.” Robert joked.

Tony, Natasha, and Clint chuckled into their hands while Bruce and Pepper shook their heads with smiles.

“Hey! No fair!” Steve yelled back at him.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Robert answered as Maria rolled her eyes.

“Children, behave!” Fury glared at them.

Fury, Maria, Robert, Bruce, Betty, Clint, Natasha, Steve, Tony, Pepper, Thor, and Jane were all in the room. Huginn and Muninn were allowed in, which would enable Odin and Frigga to be able to watch from Asgard.

“Well, it’s showtime. Five bucks says he crashes and burns,” Tony betted with a smirk.

“Ten says you’re wrong,” Bruce countered. Everyone looked at him like he had four heads.

“Traitor! You’re going against me,” Tony declared, grabbing his chest dramatically like he’d been stabbed. “My science-bro stabbed me in the back!”

“Well, someone needs to support him.”

“Shut up, it’s starting,” Fury ordered.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Loki’s POV**

 

Images of the Battle of New York flashed on-screen with a deep broadcast announcer voice playing overtop of it.

_‘Tonight, for the first time in history, we give you the most widely broadcast interview ever. He attacked our planet over a year ago, injuring and murdering thousands of innocents. He caused billions of dollars in damages, and tried to murder his own brother. He is over a thousand years old, he is a Prince of the planet Asgard. Tonight, Oprah Winfrey will take on her greatest challenge to see if he is worthy of being forgiven.’_

An image of Oprah appeared. She was wearing a blue business suit with a peach shirt underneath. “Hello, I am Oprah Winfrey. I’d like to extend a welcome to everyone around the world that is watching; we thank you for your interest. Tonight, Prince Loki Laufeyson, the God of Lies and Chaos, wants to come clean. Now, this is live. There will be no editing or skipping for commercials."

The camera panned and zoom out to reveal Loki seated in a chair, looking nervous and worried. He was wearing a brown suit with a green shirt and black slacks. Loki looked at her, he could see that her eyes had hate in them. _‘Well she hates me, this ought to be fun.’_ he thought

“Prince Loki Laufeyson, good evening. Thank you for coming on, tonight.”

“Hello, Ms. Winfrey. Thank you for allowing me to talk to you and the people of Midgard.” Loki greeted, almost reciting exactly the words he had prepared with Robert.

“Why are you here, tonight?” Oprah asked.

Loki took a deep breath, his eyes closed for a second as he thought, _‘Remember, truth will be the way to forgiveness, hide nothing.’_ Loki felt good and open his mouth to do what he does best. “To be honest, the governments of the United States, Mexico, and Canada wish to set up treaties and trade agreements with my home planet, Asgard, and with the Allfather, Odin. The United Nations would like someone to represent Asgard as well, and they feel I am the best candidate- but before that can happen, the leaders want the public to be comfortable in knowing that I have no more intentions of taking over your planet, and that when I attacked the earth, it wasn’t of my own intention.” He answered with confidence.

Loki remembered the words that of a worthy mortal _‘You lack conviction.’_ He smiled, he now understood what that agent meant. ‘ _If you don’t believe in yourself, and do what is right. Why would anyone believe in you.’_ He turned and looked at his lover who was smiling back and nodding. Loki then heard the next question.

“Could you explain, please.” Oprah asked again, adjusting her sitting position.

“When Thor was banished here, to Midgard, Odin had fallen into a deep sleep; it was known throughout the Nine Realms as the Odinsleep. He had already been approaching the Odinsleep before that event, but shortly after sending his son off, he fell into the deep sleep to replenish his energy. As the only heir to the throne left on Asgard and with Frigga at her husband's side, I became King of Asgard. While in my ruling, I sent the Destroyer, a powerful weapon from Asgard's treasure room, after Thor to ensure he would not return and usurp my rule. As you can already guess, it failed. Thor returned to Asgard, and we battled. I threatened to use the Bifrost to overtake Midgard, but he destroyed the bridge, ensuring my defeat. We dangled over the destroyed bridge, but after realizing my failures and the damage I had caused to Asgard and my family, I let go and fell into the void that I had been hanging over."

“Wait a minute, you took control of the throne, sent a weapon to destroy your brother, tried to kill him again when he returned, and then you tried committed suicide?"

"Yes, that would be correct series of events." Loki confirmed.

"Why?" She questioned.

Loki took in a deep breath, “I was brought from another realm to Asgard, and Odin and Frigga raised me as their other son. But Thor was the favorite child, he could do no wrong. Well after many centuries of this, I grew bitter.

Loki noticed that Oprah was really focusing on his words, ‘Maybe she does believe me.’ he thought, then he heard from her, “So what was it like being Thor’s brother?”

"As I mentioned previously, Odin brought me to Asgard and claimed me as his second child, and so I was raised by Odin and Frigga. I was raised to believe I was Odin and Frigga's son and Thor's younger brother. For years, he and I grew up playing games and having fun, but then it changed as Thor got older. He hung out with his group of friends who would mock me and bully me around, because on Asgard, men are supposed to be warriors and women were supposed to be the magical ones. I was smaller than everyone, I liked the magic for the sense of learning, and I was really good at it. For those reasons, I was not considered a true warrior." Loki turned his head to look at Thor, and he could his head was down, being comforted by Jane.

"Did you realize that you weren’t an Asgardian?"

"No. I learned about my heritage approximately six years ago."

"You're telling me that your parents hid the fact that you were adopted for over a thousand years? And that your older brother and his friends bullied and abused you while you growing up?"

"Yes, but this does not excuse my actions up to trying to kill myself."

"Didn't you see a psychiatrist while growing up?"

"We don’t have psychiatrists on Asgard. Af far as I am aware, you are the only realm that has psychiatrists and  psychology." Loki informed her, having spoken to Darcy about this subject before.

"Really? I'm quite surprised by that. So what happened next?"

"Well, I resented Thor and his friends. I wanted to prove that I was good enough to rule. So I planned to get Thor banished, which happened. Odin explained to me about my adoption, but then fell into the Odinsleep. As I said, it had already been foreseen that he would go into the Odinsleep, but his despair at Thor being sent away sped up the effects."

"I could only imagine. What about Frigga? What did she tell you?"

"Not much. Odin likes to keep a lot of information to himself, so she couldn't answer a lot of questions. She mostly repeated the same things he already told me."

"Do you love your parents and brother?"

Loki took a deep breath to steady himself. "My mother, yes, I love her. Odin, I don't know, and for Thor, I am willing to forgive him, but it will take time to heal the pain he caused me in childhood."

"That's understandable. So what happened after you let go of the bridge?"

"After falling from the Bifrost, the Chitauri and Thanos' underling found me. I was adrift, in more ways than one. Finding out that my whole life had been a lie broke something in me, and when the Other began whispering lies into my ear, lies of ruling the Earth, of being king, I listened. I had a new purpose in life, a new goal, even if it wasn't my own, and so I followed it to the bitter end. They also used the Mind Stone, which helps wrap someone's will to be used. On top of that, they would beat and torture me until my will broke. This went on for many months, and once they were convinced that they controlled me, they gave me the Mind Stone and put it in my scepter, so that I had enough power to carry out their will."

"Who are Thanos, the Chitauri, and this Other?" Oprah asked him, seeing more interested as he continued.

"The Chitauri are a powerful, reptilian, race or warriors, a hybrid between organic beings and machines. They have no world to call their own. Thanos and the Other are their masters. Thanos is power hungry, and he wants to court Death as his mistress. The Other is Thanos' loyal servant, and is to be feared."

"Can you explain what you meant by courting Death?"

Loki took a deep breath. "Thanos wanted to learn the dark side of magic. For this reason, he was banished from his world. Mistress Death was his teacher to make him stronger, and unfortunately Thanos fell in love with her. He believes that the more creatures he kills, the more he can please her."

"I see.” Oprah muttered understandingly. “Now, why did you attack the Earth instead of Asgard?"

"Partly because I wanted to hurt Thor, but mainly because of the mental suggestion the Chitauri put into me. Your planet activated a very powerful energy that alerted your presence to everyone in the realms. Thanos wanted this power, and sent his army to take it and destroy the world. He believed it would be a simple task, since humans are viewed as simple creatures by the rest of the realms. But I knew of your special people with powers, and also I knew that your government’s armies were stronger than Thanos believed."

"How do _you_ view us?"

"I thought you to be weak and mindless, like sheep. I have seen that many of you are whiny, unappreciative, boring, and uncaring, but the longer I’ve stayed here, I’ve seen your intelligence in your buildings, your museums, the pyramids, the Colosseum, the Great Wall of China, the Panthera, and Three Gorges Dam." He took a breath. "All these works of art, operas, musicals, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Da Vinci, Picasso, and many others. Your world has embraced the beauty of art, and your religions have a common theme: to love and have peace.

And then there are your people of history. People that have done incredible things by themselves to lead for the greater good, like Ghandi, Washington, King Jr., Rosa Parks, and then those who group together, Tiananmen Square Protest, Fall of Berlin Wall, and protests against racism. When the planet that you live on shows its power in earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and tornadoes, you come together and rebuild without question.” Loki took a deep breath, trying regain focus. “You know what impressed me the most about your race?" He asked her, his question rhetoric but waited for her to respond anyway.

"What was that?"

Loki's face changed, and his eyes got misty. "A few months ago, I was looking on YouTube, and I saw all these videos of  9/11. I saw the planes hit the towers and the Pentagon; watched how they collapsed. I watched people dying in the streets, jumping from the fire that consumed the upper floors of the towers. I watched the firefighters, healers, and police that ran towards the towers. They weren't superheroes, and they weren't gods. They were normal, everyday people. They saw a building collapsing and yet they ran towards it to save people, not away from it to save themselves. I couldn't understand that drive, yet I didn't just see it there. I saw the same heroism in the attacks in Lebanon, Israel, Russia, and many other countries around the world. Your healers and rescuers placed themselves in mortal danger just to save people. In the other realms, our healers are away from the battle, yet yours are on the front lines, willing to do whatever they can to preserve life. The compassion was astounding, to say the least. Without question, it amazed me how firefighters run into burning building to save lives, police officers will drive into gun battles, um, I think the word is EMT, will put themselves in any danger to save a life.” Loki remembered asking Agent Hall for his opinion about sharing this, which the Agent agreed with him to do it.

He took breath before continuing. “I didn’t understand why they would do that, so I asked Agent Hall to explain it. He looked at me and said, ‘If they don’t, who will? Someone has to take care of the wounded, to save the children, to show the world that we do care.’” He paused, looking into the audience where Hall was. “I looked at him, and I thought about it for a little while. Then I said to him, ‘Because if no one does, your species will be extinct?’. The agent looked at me and answered, ‘very good exactly _’.”_

Loki received nothing more than an interested nod from Oprah and continued. “When the Avengers are called to action, I want to do good, I want to save these lives. It pains me, especially when I see children get hurt. I never want any child to go through the thought of losing the parents.”

Everyone was silent; shocked at the realization that it was true that Loki had changed. Loki continued, not noticing that his words had stunned everyone. "It’s been a long and hard struggle to earn the forgiveness of everyone the team, and I’m still doing what I can… Even Barton and Selvig, who I caused the most personal damage to, has been very supportive of my endeavors to help the team. Agent Hall, especially, has shown me that the road to reparations, involves building bridges, not burning them. I know some people will want me dead and never forgive me, and to those people, all I can say is that I understand that. I have pained you too much to ask forgiveness, and I won't force you into forgiving me or changing your views of me. All I can say to the world, is I am sorry for my actions, but I didn’t have a choice, I do promise to be one of protectors of this world, along with my brother Thor. That we will together defend you all."   

“This Agent Hall, he sounds very wise.” Oprah finally spoke, giving her opinion on that small matter.

“He is. He’s my friend. I have been alive for many centuries, and yet he, a mere midgardian, has helped me see what I must do to change.”

Oprah  looked unsettled. Something was clearly bothering her and she had to say something. “Loki, I am going to be honest, when I found out about this interview, I was angry because you killed people I knew. One of them was a very close friend of mine. I hated you for that. I even thought about bringing a gun here tonight and getting revenge.” And with that, she pulled a gun out.  Everyone in the studio gasped. Loki saw Darcy ready to launch with her taser in one hand-he hoped she wouldn’t get involved.

“But thank you. I do believe you, I do forgive you, and I would like the chance to become your friend, please.” And with that, she laid the gun on the floor. Loki was stunned. He looked into her eyes and saw the pain that he had caused. He also saw the caring in her heart, that she was sincere and with that, he got up, helped her out of the chair and hugged her. She hugged him back.

“I am sorry everyone, for my actions, but we’re going to ending early. Thank you for everything, but what I did was illegal. I honestly thought that Loki was evil, and maybe he was. Tonight he had shown me that he has changed.”

The image faded to black worldwide, and two police officers came over and placed her in handcuffs. They read her rights and she said she understood them. Loki noticed the Avengers coming over. He watched as Agent Hall walked over to Oprah and decided to listen to what he wanted to say to her. “You’ve got guts, you know you would have been killed.”

“I know, but before tonight, I thought he was a monster and deserved to die. I was wrong. I feel horrible. I know I might have ruined myself, but if it helps you out in the long run, I’ll be alright.” She took a breath and turned to him. “Loki, I do want to be your friend, if you ever need a favor, please ask.”

Loki just nodded and smile ,”Of course, thank you.” He replied formally before noticing his lover approach him. Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around Darcy. A single thought ran through his mind, _‘I now have conviction.’_

_______________________________________________________________________

 

**New Mexico**

 

That lying sack of shit! Can you believe him?" Frank yelled out to Matt, as they finished watching the show.

"The world will forgive them, but it doesn't matter." Drake commented.

"It does _too_ matter. How long till they're dead? Don't forget your promise to us," Matt shot back.

A figure walked into the room, creating a large shadow across the floor. "Don't worry. In two weeks, they will be." Nickolas stated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> Next posting should be next Monday or Tuesday


	10. Tasers and Spilled Milk

**Chapter Eleven**

  
  


**Langley** , **Virginia**

**May 15, 2013**

 

Inside the company, all types of intel was always been received: photos, conversations, meetings, videos, and most importantly, threats. Threats against the government, the military, the President, as well as potential terrorist attacks. It was always a very serious environment, but then again, when you’re trying to stop a nuclear war from happening, it should be.

Sam Post was one of the analysts that looked over details. He was excellent with details and his eyes never missed anything; somehow, he always knew what to find in the photo, message, or code. As he researched the message from Slovenia that three agents had died to get to him, he realized it was level nine. The code was a mix of ancient words and modern computer mixing, with a dash of Chinese. Sam looked at the message for the third day in a row. He was puzzled by the words soldier, gods, lightning, monsters, revenge, green, evil, and bullet.

Then, the computer program he was using to help decode, came back with a few words and instructions on what to do. Sam picked up the phone in the office and dialed the extension. When the person on the other side answered, Sam repeated the code the computer told him to. There was a simple thank you and instructions for him to not repeat what he’s heard and continue to decode the rest of the message. He hung up the phone and then picked it up again in order to dial another extension.

“Sir, we have a problem. It’s HYDRA. They’re alive and in the country.” He spoke down the phone.

* * *

 

**Slovenia**

**May 15, 2013**

 

Doctor List remained silent as he stood there with a straight back. The man stood across from him, in a very disciplined position. He paced around the other man, “We have an opportunity to strike down our enemies and spread the power of HYDRA. No leader will be safe. Our power will be felt worldwide. The vision of the Red Skull can become true.”

There was no reply from the other man, who simply stood there with a black mask over his nose and mouth; his long dark brown hair was showing.

“We have trained you for a long time, and you have never failed us- except once, which couldn’t have been helped. Can you kill these targets?” Doctor List asked. 

His head dipped down to look at the photos before coming back up, nodding once. 

“Your targets will be in New York City in a few weeks. They will be on TV, so their deaths will be seen by many. You leave tomorrow. Make sure you stop by the doctor and get refilled. You will be given a special weapon when you get to the city. It will defeat any armor. Additionally, you will have a limited amount of ammo." List finished speaking to the soldier, who nodded and turned around to walk out of the door.

* * *

 

**The Winter Soldier POV**

 

His eyes were focused straight ahead, black warpaint around them. He walked into the doctor’s office and sat in the chair. The doctor and his nurse began the programming and refilled the necessary chemicals into his arm so that he would follow the orders. He saw them had a man a package, the soldier knew he would be his handler. The soldier stood up from the chair, and with his assistant in tow, they left the room to complete the mission.

* * *

 

 

**New York City**

**May 15, 2013**

 

Robert was on his floor in the common area, working on some reviews for the team. They seemed to like his input once a month on how they functioned together. He heard the elevator, informing him that somebody had stopped on his floor. Maria appeared at his door which made him smile until he saw the ‘ _I-give-the-hell-up’_ look on her face. Jane appeared seconds afterwards with the same expression on her face. And finally, Darcy walked in; the bubble-bouncing taser-fucking-happy girl with the mouth of a sailor and the only mind in the building that could calm down a demigod with daddy issues and PTSD. 

Darcy was smiling ear to ear, with the  _ ‘what-did-I-do-wrong’  _ look. Robert immediately felt his blood pressure rising, because even though they had just gone out for lunch, something had happened, and knowing her, it wasn’t good. 

He thought back to three years ago when he’d been an F.B.I. agent, working on homicides, kidnappings, carjackings, drugs, and other types of normal police shit. Two years ago, yes, his life had fallen apart due to the death of his family, but he had been at S.H.I.E.L.D.; Where he was working to recover illegal weapons, terrorists, and other types of intelligence shit. Then, it had happened, over six months ago- He’d walked into Stark Tower, and everything had gone straight to the funny farm. He’d had two demigods, a ninety-year-old hero, the scientist that turned into Gumby on steroids, Tony Stark, and the death twins. There was also a nationwide terrorist plot, the F.B.I. agents that had killed his family, demons, death, and other occult shit.

Now, however, his life was filled with being a part time nanny, babysitter, secretary, and helping to save the world from doombots, aliens, and radioactive aardvarks. If that wasn’t enough, he also had to attend meetings and attempt to keep everyone from blowing up the planet or at least the tower. He came out of his thought and looked at Maria who was still not happy as she sat down.

"What happened?" he asked, and he immediately regretted it by the look Maria shot him.

“What happened?  _ What happened? _ I’ll _ tell  _ you what happened! The three of us were calmly sitting at a cafe, having a nice lunch in the spring, when miss mother-hen goes into overdrive and tasers three people at once!"

"Hey! They had it coming to them. They were bad mouthing my boyfriend, Thor, and Brucie, and when I told him to stop it, he made a sexual insult at me, so I tasered his sorry-ass." Darcy defended, obviously not sorry about tasering them. 

“Okay, I can understand the first jackass. I’ll give you that. What about the other two?”

“They were his buddies and they were coming at me,” she retorted. She offered a small guilty look. “It may have been because I kept my finger on the button to keep shocking him."

“Darcy?” Robert said with a big sigh.

“Yes, Agent Hall?” She replied sweetly, batting her eyelids. 

“You know you’re supposed to take your finger off the button, right?” He rubbed his forehead.

“Well, he pissed me off." Darcy said with a smile.

“Darcy?”

“Yes, Agent Hall?”

“Are you purposely trying to get me to die from a stroke?” Robert asked as he momentarily closed his eyes to try and not have a stroke right then from stress. 

“Well, not really."

“Can you please not taser people unless they are actually attacking  _ you _ ?”

“I’ll try, but no promises. Besides, I don’t know what the big deal is.” Darcy replied with a small shrug.

“Uh-huh.” Robert sounded before turning to the other two occupants in the room. “Maria and Jane, could you leave us alone for a while, please?”

Maria, just smiled she knew that tone of his, so she nudged Jane and motioned for them to leave each other. They said their goodbyes and left.

“Come over here and sit down." 

Darcy, with her puppy dog eyes, came over and sat down.

"Stop wasting your time on that, they don't work on me. Now, I am hoping- and I mean hoping- this will help you to understand things." Robert opened a satchel and pulled out a stack of papers that was at least an inch thick. "This is the S.H.I.E.L.D. form 66-78-TAS, and this has to be filled out anytime someone is tasered in a non-violent or combative situation. So, you are going to fill this out every time you unnecessarily have to taser someone. And, since you already have, you will start filling this out immediately."

Darcy dropped her head a little. “Really? But I have to make dinner tonight." 

“Well, I’m sorry, Darcy, but this is life. There are consequences for your actions. I am getting a wee bit tired of filing paperwork, while no one else seems to care or see what the big deal is.”

She sighed deeply, her lip sticking out sadly. “Okay.” Her shoulders slumped down, and she started to write the information down. 

Robert went back to his job, and about twenty five minutes later, he heard a grunt and looked up. He saw Darcy looking at him, holding the paperwork out. “Jarvis, did she fill it out right?”

_ “Yes, Agent Hall, she did everything correctly and did not miss any spots _ . _ " _

“Darcy, you may go. I will be up then and I will give you a hand so that you can catch up."

“Thank you, Agent Hall. I’m sorry."

“It’s okay, Darcy." With that, she left.

“Jarvis?”

_ “Yes, Agent Hall _ ? _ " _

“I saw her phone light up thirty-five times. You wouldn’t be helping her now, would you? Because that would defeat the purpose of teaching her a lesson."

_ “No _ , _ Agent Hall _ . _ I would never do something like that more than twice _ . _ " _

Robert looked at the ceiling and shook his head. “You will all be the death of me.”

_ "I believe Director Fury, Pepper Potts, and Maria Hill will die before you." _

“Haha, smartass." He muttered before closing his computer and leaving his room so he could help Darcy make dinner. He did love his family, even though they would drive him crazy. There wasn’t anything that he would do to change it.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

**New Mexico**

**May 14, 2013**

 

“I didn’t sign up for this shit," Matt muttered to Frank. He couldn’t believe this, all he had just wanted to kill the bastard that murdered his brother. Now, he was involved with a worldwide terrorist organization. Cindy and Frank perfectly understood the matters at hand. Matt wasn’t a killer. He didn’t want to change the world or care about other shit.

“Look, they’re right. A lot of shit is going to hit the fan, and we’re going to need to disappear forever. They’re willing to help us, so it’s only fair that we help them. Besides, you hated your job for the government. You were always bitching and complaining," Frank replied as they were packing up all the ammo, guns, and anything else they needed.

“Matt, you always were a crybaby," Cindy added as she came in to help grab some boxes. “These people reward loyalty, they pay well. We need to disappear forever.”

“Well, what if they give me a gun and tell me to shoot the President?” Matt questioned, wondering how they could so easily go along with this.

“Fuck, that’s simple. Make sure the safely is off," Frank answered as he shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not a killer!” 

“We know that! Now shut up, or I will cut your tongue out," Drake warned. He was the one who had met them at the bar. His partner,  Nickolas, followed in behind them. “Now, quit this complaining over spilled milk and help load the vans."

“Spilled milk? Who the hell taught you English? Sesame Street, or was it Blue’s Clues?" Faster than Matt could understand, Drake had his hand over his throat. The gun was a quarter of an inch away from his eye. Matt could see that man was literally ready to kill him right now; He was going to die. 

“Drake, enough!”  Nickolas yelled out. “I think he learned his lesson.” 

Drake relaxed slowly, calculating before he put his gun away. He smoothed out his shirt and left the room.  Nickolas  looked at everyone as if nothing had happened and motioned for everyone to move it.

“Nice going, Matt. Your mouth is going to get you killed one of the days.”

Matt, clearly shaken, just shook his head and picked up a box and left the room, stumbling into the door-frame.


	11. Loki is Screech

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my amazing beta: VanillaAshes. You have both been great

**Chapter Twelve**

  
  


**New York City**

 

It was a nice relaxing day in the tower. Robert was watching old 80’s TV shows, since Jarvis had found a station that ran old A-Team reruns, when he heard the elevator open up. 

“No way! I love this show!” someone yelled from behind him. Robert felt the couch move, and when he looked over he saw Clint looking like a kid in a candy store. 

“Really? I never would have guessed.” Robert just shook his head and went back to watching the show. After two episodes, he had glanced over at Clint, who hadn’t moved from his original spot. “Okay, who would be Face?”

“Really? That’s so easy; Tony, obviously.” Clint answered without hesitation or looking at him.

“Yeah, Tony. Alright.” Robert agreed. “What about Hannibal?”

“Hmm, Steve?” Clint replied with a tad of thought.

“Yeah, I guess. And Murdock?” 

“I don’t know?” Clint said, finally looking at him. 

“Really? Come on,  _ you _ .” Robert informed him-that was so obvious.

“Me?” He asked dumbly.

“Yeah, you. Everyone else is either shooting lasers, machine guns, aliens, or magic, and you’re sitting up high kicking ass with a bow and arrow.” Robert rationalised, explaining his decision.

“Yeah, kicking ass! Here’s the tough one. B.A.?”

“Hmm Thor.? Nah, too silly, and too much hair.” He replied thoughtfully.

“Yeah, wait, yes.” Clint chuckled which quickly turned into a full-out laugh.

“What the hell, Clint, what’s so funny?”

Clint took a few moments to compose himself. “She’ll kill me, but… Tasha.”

Robert laughed as he imagined Natasha as B.A. “True, true.”

“Did you two idiots just compare me to a five foot ten inches black man with a mohawk and gold chains?” Natasha asked, appearing behind them.

Robert and Clint turned around to see in horror that the redhead assassin was looking down on them. 

“Well fuck, yes, we did, because nobody fucks with you, and you can kick everyone’s ass,” Robert explained, hoping she didn’t go all assassin on their arses.

“Plus you really love me,” Clint added, “a lot. Remember that, dear?”

“True, but you are both going to pay during sparring.” Natasha warned.

“Awww fuck!” said the two in unison. Then the show ended and a new show came on:  _ The Addams Family _ . 

“Another classic, show, okay who is Gomez?”  Robert asked

“Guy acts weird and has stupid grin, so I’m going with Stark? Okay, how about Morticia?” Clint offered

“Pepper with dark hair.” Natasha smiled to herself as she replied. “And before you two say it, I could see myself as Wednesday.” 

Robert and Clint nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, I could see that, what about Lurch?” Natasha asked the others, turning to look at them..

Robert and Clint looked at each other just as Steve enter the room. They turned around to look at him, and both started laughing; due to the extensity of their laughter, they fell off the couch. 

Steve looked at Natasha with his usual confused expression. She simply looked at the TV screen just as Lurch was saying, "You rang?" She turned to look at Steve and let out a laugh. Steve just shook his head and left the room, with a look of confusion.

The three of them regained their composure. “That was funny. Okay, what about Knight Rider?” Robert asked

“Well that's not very hard. Michael Knight is Stark. Kitt?" Clint stated.

"Duh. Jarvis." Robert answered quickly and arrogance. 

_ "I am insulted that you would compare me to that poor excuse of an A. I." _

The three of them just started to laugh again, whereas, Jarvis let out a sound of him sighing.

Robert slowed in his laughing. "Wait, wait. MacGyver?"

Clint smiled. "Ah hell, that’s easy. It'd be Banner! Wait, who'd be Herman Munster and his wife" Clint inquired.

"Steve wins again. Darcy, I could see being Lily.” Robert chuckled. “Hey, did you ever see the Mork and Mindy?" 

"No, I don't think I did. Did that one have Robin Williams in it?" Clint answered with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep. Mindy could be Betty Ross, though who'd be Mork? Oh my god!" Natasha replied.

Clint asked. "Who?"

"Loki!" Natasha suggested with laugh. Clint and Robert busted out laughing at that thought.

“Totally. Dukes of Hazzard? Bo is Thor, Luke is Bruce.” Clint was crying from laughing so hard, none of them were really able to control themselves right now.

“Could you imagine Thor yelling that Yee Haw in the General Lee?!” Robert yelled out.

Tony and Bruce entered and looked at the three of them. 

“What the hell are you all laughing about?” Tony asked. 

Clint looked at the two. “Yes, Bruce  _ is  _ Macgyver and Bo Duke. Tony could be either Face, Magnum, or Michael Knight.”

Tony and Bruce just looked at each. “You guys are insane. Wait, did you do Saved by the Bell, because I could totally be Zack.”

“Alright- Loki is Screech.” All of them started to laugh, as they heard Robert’s answer.  

“Wait, Bruce is the dude from Quantum Leap.” Clint inputted.

“Yeah, Natasha is Xena.” Nastasha just smiled and nodded in agreement.

What none of them knew, was that throughout the entire conversation, Pepper, Jane, Darcy, Betty and Maria were listening.

“Yeah, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, defenders of all humanity.” 

“We are totally doomed,” Darcy commented, you could hear her sulk by the tone in her voice.

 

_____________________________________________________________________ **Robert’s POV**

 

Later that day, Robert was by himself when his phone lit up. It was an email from a friend that he knew in the State Department. It read, ‘ _ Hall, heads up on this; four countries want a Spider stomped.’  _ Hall shook his head, ‘ _ great that is all I need now, People are after Natasha now.’  _ Robert thought to himself. He really needed a day off. He sent a response back asking which countries.

About a minute later, he got his answer:  _ Russia, Germany, Turkey, and France _ . Fuck, all power countries, ones the American Government will need to get their treaties to go through. 

Then another email; the news got worse. Germany also wanted Loki and Clint for trial, and would oppose and fight any chance for him to get in the U.N..’

“Great, first Clint and Loki with the World Council, now Natasha is wanted by countries for crimes. Fuck, can this get any worse.” Robert decided he needed air, so he went up to the roof and just looked out the early evening sky.

**Tony POV**

 

“ _ Sir, I would like to let you and Dr. Banner know that it is dinner time.”  _ Tony heard Jarvis say. He looked at Bruce who was returning the look at the same time. They silently agreed that they were hungry.  

As they walked into the dining room, they saw that almost everyone was there and didn’t hesitate to join the table and start to eat. 

           Clint looked around for a few moments, a puzzled expression on his face. "Hey, where the heck is Hall at?" 

Everyone stopped and realized he was missing as well. Robert never missed dinner when he was in the tower.

           "Jarvis, where is Hall ?" Tony asked.

_ "Agent Hall is currently up on the landing pad, where he has been for the past thirty five minutes, Sir."  _

Tony noticed everyone's looks of concern. As he pushed himself up from his chair, he noticed that there were various doubtful looks on his teammate's faces. "Hey, I got this. Everyone, just keep eating. He doesn't need an army." Tony instructed. Pepper looked at him a little uneasily, and Tony noted her concern. "Relax. I promise I’ll be good boy." He smirked at her, earning an irate glare from the red head.

He rode the elevator up to the roof. When he stepped out of the elevator, he noticed it was a chilly night. "Yo, Metho, you’re missing some awesome noodle action." 

Hall didn't move, and that puzzled Tony a lot. He approached Robert a bit, waiting for a response. When none was given, he moved even closer, and continued to do so until he was standing next to him, looking out at the sky. 

Tony noticed that Robert just kept staring into the sky, not acknowledging his presence. "Hey Robert." He nudged the agent a little, and that got a response, as well as some movement.

"Huh? What? Sorry, I was in deep thought." Robert answered slightly startled.

"Clearly. You've been up here for over half an hour. You must be solving world hunger." Tony jabbed at him.

“Whatever. That's the least of my problems." Robert replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise?" Tony teased.

"I wish it was. No, things are good with Maria and me. What I’m about to tell you needs to stay with you for now, for at least for two days. If you can't, I understand. No hard feelings." Robert turned to face Tony.

Tony was surprised. He and Robert didn't always see eye to eye, but their friendship was growing. "Yeah, you can trust me."

"Shit’s about to go down. The World Council is after Clint and Loki." Robert practically blurting, obviously relieved to get that off his chest.

"Okay, I knew about that." Tony replied calmly.

"Russia, Germany, Turkey, and France are after Natasha." Robert added.

"Crap. For her past jobs?" Tony, felt his shoulders drop a little.

"Yup, and it gets better. Germany also wants Loki. They’ll oppose anything  U.N,-related  until they get what they want. With them being on the Security Council, they have a lot of influence." Robert kept piling it on.

"Wow, this is shitty.” Tony commented. “Any idea on the government response?" 

"Knowing our government, they’ll do anything to get a deal done-- so I’m leaving for Washington tonight. It’ll be better for me to be there in person. I already called Fury, he's going to meet me there. We're going to see what we can do." Robert informed him with a confident voice.

"You seem to trust him a lot." Tony observed, his tone doubtful.

“Yeah, about as far as I can throw him.” Robert responded sarcastically. “I’m not stupid, Tony. I know that he knows people all around the world and those who are in power. I need any advantage I can get." He stated as he started to walk from the edge.

"Well, I’ll give you a little more credit. I can have Happy drive you." Tony felt better hearing Robert’s answer.

"Thank you, but no. I will drive. I'm going to stop off in Pa, to nap a little and eat. It helps clear my mind." Robert gave him the details.

"Take care, Hall. Drive safe. Maybe you can be back by Friday. We're going to try to get Loki, Steve, and Thor drunk." Tony offered.

"You’re nuts, but I'm not missing that." With that, Robert turned from Tony and headed to the elevator. Tony just watched him leave before turning back to look at the sky again. After taking in some fresh air, he rejoined his friends. They asked about what had happened, and to Tony's credit, all he told them, that Robert just had a lot of shit to deal with in Washington.

**Bruce’s POV**

 

Later in the night, Tony was in his lab with Bruce. Bruce could clearly tell something was bothering his friend. He wasn't the prying type and decided it would be best to let things be quiet; Tony didn’t need to be bombarded with questions. That, however, was about to change. Loki, with Darcy and Jane in tow, entered the lab and marched towards Tony. "Alright Stark, what is going on with Hall? I figured I would leave you alone because you always slip up, but I have grown impatient."

Tony looked surprised at Loki's reaction, especially when Thor, Steve, and Pepper came down too. "Tony, what the hell? Maria just called me. Robert isn't answering his phone or responding to her messages for the past five hours. All he said to her was, 'Shit is getting heavy, and it could go Krakatoa,' whatever the hell that means." 

Bruce looked at Tony and could see that his face immediately got a very concerned look on it, and then Tony opened his mouth. Bruce just thought to himself ‘ _ And here we go.’ _

"Fuck, I thought it was there. Robert sounded nervous when we talked. He’s never nervous when he has to deal with Washington. Look, I want to tell you, but I can't. He asked me to be quiet for two days at most." Tony explained, looking like he actually wanted to tell them. 

Bruce looked at Tony and thought  _ ‘Wow Tony keep a secret, shit the world is going to end.’ _ Then Bruce noticed that Loki was not satisfied with that answer and got a little concerned when he noticed Loki walking up to Tony. "I don't get it. Why Hall is keeping secrets? I'll trust him so much, but if I don't have an answer in two days, I will expect a story, understand?"

Bruce decided it was time for him to say something before Tony did something stupid. "Loki, I’m sure we will get an answer. I don't like secrets either, but Robert hasn't screwed us over yet. So I will give him the benefit of the doubt." Loki seemed satisfied with that answer. He then saw Tony turning towards Pepper. "Robert told me that he would stop to eat and take a nap, so I’m sure he’s fine. J, update."

_ "Hold for a moment Sir, while I access his GPS. Agent Hall, stopped at a Perkins in Bethlehem to eat for thirty-five minutes and then moved his car to another spot to sleep for two hours. He has just turned on the GPS." _

 

**Washington D.C.**

Robert unlocked his hotel room door, walked in, and set his bags on the bed. He went over to the bed and set down his computer, phone, and Kindle Fire onto the bedside table. He noticed he had a text, and opened it to find it was from Maria.

_ ‘You are so dead! I was worried! Be safe. Miss you a lot.' _

He just smiled and texted back 'Sorry, plate is full. I miss you too, a lot! :)' and sent the message. He laid down on his bed and started to think how he was going to get out of this mess. As he drifted off into sleep, he had one single thought on his mind: Very soon, his and everyone else's lives, would change.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next posting on Sunday hopefully


	12. The President kicks ass

**Chapter Thirteen**

 

**Washington D.C.**

 

The next morning, as Robert rose from the darkness of sleep, Robert smelt something nice, like coconut. As one eye opened to find the source of the smell, he noticed a large Styrofoam cup that had steam coming from it. He let out a big sigh. "Director, don't you ever fucking sleep? Or at least past 7 am?"

"Hell no. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and Stark hasn't talked to me in three days." Robert looked past the cup to see that Nick was sitting in a chair. "Now get your ass out of bed before I get mad." With that, he walked out of the room.

Robert just looked at the ceiling, as if he could talk to a certain God. "I swear to you, when I die and meet you, we are going to have a long talk about your sense of humor."

" _ Now, _ Hall!"

Robert growled quietly. “Ass moving now, sir!" He got out of bed, took a quick shower, and got dressed for the day's meeting, which was supposed to begin in about eighteen minutes. He came out of the bedroom fixing his tie, with Fury glaring at him. "Okay, just kick my ass so we can move forward with the day, sir."

Fury just shook his head. "Clint and Stark are wearing off on you, Agent. Anyways, we are going to the White House, and then maybe- just maybe- if you don't piss me off or start World War III, we’ll eat dinner."

"The gods are generous today, sir," Hall replied with smirk. "Who are we meeting at the House?"

"The President, the Vice, and the French, Russian, Italian and Turkish ambassadors." 

They left Hall's hotel room and headed out to the parking lot. It was a nice day as they got into Fury's Suburban, and headed to the White House. The conversation was light, but to the point as always. 

The game plan was to get Russia to back off and help them convince the other countries to back off, as well. Fury was obviously annoyed that they had to drive into a different security area than expected, as they both had to be inspected-their credentials weren’t enough. The Secret Service wasn't taking chances; not even for those two. Once they were cleared, they entered the building.

As they walked through the checkpoints, Robert kept reminding himself to keep his cool and to not curse. Breath. He had to breathe and remember that if the shit got hot, he is protecting his family. They needed him on this level- this wasn't a physical battlefield; muscles, weapons, and tempers wouldn't work here. No, the key to victory at this point, were words, tricks, lies, and deceit, but also promises, benefits, and compromise; that is what will save his family. 

As they entered one of the many conference rooms, Robert saw the Vice-President, and the Ambassadors, of the countries of the four countries already sitting at a table. Fury and Robert greeted all the officials before they both took their allotted seats.

A few minutes later, the Secret Service Agents came in and announced the President with the Secretary of State, entering the room. Everyone rose and greeted the men with respect. When everyone sat back down, the tension in the room was noticeably heavy.

The Secretary of State was the first to speak. "Thank you, gentlemen, for coming today. We are here to resolve grievances that some countries have with the United States. We hope that we can come to some agreement which would, hopefully, make all parties satisfied."

That was far as he got, for the Italian Ambassador stood up. "Enough of the talk, we want the Black Widow. She has killed many of our people, and my country demands she be punished."

The French Ambassador turned to look at the Italian Ambassador. "Your people? What about our people? She was responsible for the murders of many government officials. She has killed many good men, she only killed your corrupt."

"Oh, really? I am sure that all your politicians are squeaky clean. She killed them because they were too stupid to surrender like everybody else in France does." The Italian shot back.

“Enough of your mindless talk," the Ambassador of Turkey interrupted, annoyance in his tone. "We know the Widow has killed many people in both of your countries- but we want her as well, for more serious crimes. She lit a children's hospital on fire, killing hundreds of innocents, including young children. Many of them were related to our government officials and our military."

The President decided to speak. "Look, we could make this very easy for everyone, and I could hand her over to the World Court and let you all deal with it." The ambassadors looked pleased and they smiled.

Robert and Fury quickly whipped their heads at the man; both scowling bitterly. Robert wanted to leap over the table and slug him, but remained seated. Fury started to speak, but the President cut him off. "But she is a citizen of the United States, and so I cannot hand her over . She is protected by not only America, but the Avengers as well."

"Mr. President, your course of action is honorable, but foolish. You are protecting a cold-blooded murderer. She will one day get her orders to kill you or another head of state, and then how will you feel?" The Russian Ambassador inputted, finally speaking up; he sat back down with a very small smirk. Robert didn't miss the smugness hidden behind it.

"Interesting point made there, sir," Robert spoke up. "Why would she get those orders, or better yet, who would give those orders?'

"Naturally from your government, or even S.H.I.E.L.D."

"According to American Policy, it is illegal for any political assassinations to be planned by any government official for any reason. More so, if I remember our history, America sucks in the assassination department to the point we made it illegal for us so that we would stop embarrassing ourselves." Robert rationalized.

"Agent Hall, you are correct on all points. What about S.H.I.E.L.D?" The Vice President questioned.

"Our job is to protect the Earth and the human race. We will only go that far if you attempt to murder millions of people or take over the world. If you are not doing that, then you have nothing to fear from us," Fury responded calmly.

"So, I say again, where would she get those orders from? Her past crimes are not her fault; they're yours. Remember, she used to be a member of the K.G.B. before she went to S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm sure if we looked into your K.G.B.'s track recorded, we'll find other widows." Robert commented casually, keeping his smirk hidden.

"Lies!” The Russian Ambassador cried, a harsh look on his face as he argued. “We have no knowledge of this, and are therefore lies orchestrated by the American government to shift blame. We would never allow the training of little girls into trained killers.”

The Turkish Ambassador turned to look at him. "I respectfully disagree. While I may not trust the Americans, I am not blind to your country’s actions as well. Does your government take everyone to be stupid?"

"In the Navy, the captain of the boat is responsible for the actions of the crew, so the Russian government should be held accountable for what its spies do. I mean, after all, the orders have to come from somewhere. Unless you are going to tell us that the K.G.B. is rogue and does what it wants?" Robert stared down the Russian, waiting to see how he’d respond now.

The Russian Ambassador glared at Robert, offended to be called out and trapped in his own lie. "No, the K.G.B. is not rogue or SVR RF. However, the Russian government doesn't order assassinations."

The French Ambassador held back a huff. "I am tired of the lies; I would rather believe these two spies than the rest of you. My country has more important problems than dealing with this, and I am sure all of our countries are in the same boat.”

Robert noticed that the president decided to stand up to speak and had the courtesy to give him his attention. “Gentlemen, I am afraid that this is spinning out of control, so I will make it simple. The Black Widow is an American Citizen, she is a valuable member of the Avengers and played a key part in saving the world last year. Furthermore, she has defended our country and other countries as well in times of need. So any attempt to harm, arrest, or hamper the Avengers or Black Widow, will be considered an act of war against the United States of America.” 

Everyone was quiet and completely focused on the Leader of the Free World.

Robert smiled to himself. ‘ _ Damn, dude, you go, now I see why you got re-elected.’  _ His focus went straight back to the President as he continued.

“In addition, it has been brought to my attention that Germany wishes to arrest Agent Clint Barton and Prince  Loki  Laufeyson as well. As they are Avengers, any attempt to arrest, harm or hamper either of them , will also consider an act of war. Plus, I would not like to start a war with another world, if their Prince was harmed in anyway-I believe we can all agree on that.” With that being said, the great man sat down.

Robert thought of something. "Why don't we take a break, calm down a little, and then come back to see what we can come up with?"

Everyone agreed on a break. Five hours later, Hall and Fury came walking out of the White House. "Not bad, Hall, with the captain and the crew. I think that’s what gave us the lead back.” 

Robert just shook his head, “Hell no, the President did that with his kick ass speech; he nailed it in.”

Fury shrugged his shoulders. “What is on your agenda now.”

“I’m going to head home... after I make a quick stop somewhere. ” Robert answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the growing views, next posting hopefully this week
> 
> thanks once again to my Beta Vanilla Ashes


	13. PreSnapped

****

**See end of chapter for Notes**

**Chapter Fourteen**

**May 16, 2013**

It was time for their monthly meeting. Once a month- sometimes twice, with the occasionally three times- Jane, Betty, Darcy, Pepper, Natasha, and Maria would all get together. They would always get together at the Tower, mainly for convenience. It didn't take long before the men learnt to not interrupt if their valued their lives or certain limbs. It was a chance for the women to relax, gossip, chat, and watch cheesy love movies.

To make things fair, they rotated whose job it was, such as choosing the movie and picking the food; this time it was Darcy. She was still little uneasy and couldn't stop thinking about how the boy's mother died on the Load case.

As the ladies came in the room, they sat down on the couches. Natasha and Pepper occupied one couch, Jane and Betty on another one, while Maria and Darcy had a recliner chair each.

They had been sitting there for a short while, each nursing their wine glasses, when Darcy looked at Maria. "How do you do it?"

Maria looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

Darcy answered, "Well- I have Loki, Tony has Pepper, Jane and Thor, Bruce and Betty, Natasha has Clint, and Steve is still available. We see our other half all the time, but you rarely ever see Robert."

Maria took a breath. "It's hard, not going to lie, I enjoy spending time with him. He makes me smile. But I'm always on the Helicarrier and he's in Washington, so it's tough, but we know that. I like the way we kiss, the way he holds my hand when we go out to dinner. Our interactions are limited, of course." She paused in thought. "Fury was very specific about us being together- I was actually surprised that he allowed us- He felt that we would be able to be professional about it and we are."

Darcy looked at Maria. "Did you guys have sex yet?" Pepper and Jane gasped at the bluntness of the question, Natasha just shook her head.

Maria blushed and took a few moments before she replied. "Well there was that one night..." She paused, sending a warning glare at everybody in the room. "If this leaves the room, I will find you and you will pay dearly and deadly. One night after a lovely date, it was very romantic, and we went back to my place." Once that was said, she continued as if nothing had happened. "Well, we started to get hot and heavy and he had a problem."

Everyone had a shocked look on their face. "He was devastated, I was upset- he said goodnight and left. After an hour, when I have cooled down enough, I looked up his medication. Now he has been taking each of those pills for over fifteen years. Each one of them has the problem listed as a major side effect. I can't be mad at him, it's not his fault; he needs to take the medication."

Everyone's faces softened. This was a Maria that no one saw. She was exposing her heart. Her eyes downcast as she took another drink of wine.

"So, early the next morning, I went to his floor at the tower. Jarvis allowed me to go into his room, because he was still sleeping. And I crawled into the bed with him, I put my arm around him, when he woke up and saw me. We had an understanding talk, kissed, and then it wasn't incredible, but it was an important moment for us."

Everyone looked longingly at each other, they could understand how much it meant to her by the look on her face.

Maria took another sip of wine. "Later that night, he looked at me and ask why I was still with him. I told him, 'you are the first person to ever truly understand to me. I don't want to lose that.' I asked him does if his 'problem' bothered him. He told me about his grandfather once told him, that it's never the sex that last in the stories of love- It's holding the hands or remembering what amusement park you went to, the walks in the woods, or at night on a beach under the moon. Those are the memories you remember forever."

Darcy looked at Maria. "That is so sweet. What a romantic."

Pepper spoke, "He really does make you happy, doesn't he?" Maria just nodded, a soft smile on her face and a look in her eyes that were shining with love.

Natasha had a soft smile on her face as she began speaking. "I remembered when I first met you. When Clint brought me in from the red room. You were very closed, like a bank vault. Now you are here sharing the your feelings with us; That just proves how happy you are."

Maria nodded. "I never thought it would be possible, but he has gotten to me. He is different than the others. Thor has the hammer and muscles, Steve has courage and serum, Clint has his killer aim and heart, Bruce has the Hulk and is a genius, and Tony, he is in his own category."

Pepper smiled. "Amen to that." She took a sip of her wine as she rolled her eyes.

Maria smiled. "Robert, he just knows if I'm having a bad day. He sends me a goofy text message, or when I walk into my office there will be a single flower on my desk. During the meetings he's usually making faces at Tony or Steve behind their backs."

Natasha smiled. "I will admit, he does make Clint crack up."

Maria smiled. "But you know what is best about him- and it is odd- he let's me defend myself, he seems to want to come help me out. Like if agents are giving me a hard time, he doesn't threaten to kick their asses. He waits for me to ask, or he asks if I want him to intervene."

Jane, Darcy, Betty, and Pepper just stared at her. "Wow, that must be so easy. I am so tired having to stop Tony from doing something stupid."

Jane poured herself another glass of wine. "I remember when those two idiots were harassing me." Pepper nodded. "Jarvis told you and Robert. I remember when he was chewing the assholes out, and now I also understand why Tony made you CEO; I'd hate to be on your bad side, but he never once said that 'I was Thor's girl'. Oh, I hate when people say that."

Darcy laughed. "Yes, you do hate that."

Pepper smiled. "I remember when he got Tony to come in that afternoon when everything went to hell." Jane and Darcy nodded their heads. "The power went out, and I was thinking where is my hero. I was so frustrated, but then the power comes on and there is Tony talking to everyone and defending me." Her eyes got misty. "When Tony was in the coma and the senior corporate board was after me, he came in and saved the day."

Darcy nodded. "I remember Valentine's Day. Loki really tried to make dinner, but he burned the hell out of it. Suddenly a server bot comes with a cart of two fancy dinners and wine, with a card. 'Sorry he ran out the room before I could stop him. New stove will be here tomorrow. Signed Agent Hall.' We had a good laugh. Then he helped me to overcome my doubt. That I did everything possible for Wayne. He helped me find the strength for the trail."

Natasha just smiled. "I remember the whole dream thing, when we went into his mind, and he was tasked by that demon to solve our issues. After that he meet with me. He asked me if I wanted my dreams gone. I said no, I want to keep them, so I will always remember where I came from and never want to return to." She took a sip of wine, "It is on my mind, about what is going to happen to Barton and me. But for some reason, I feel safe."

Betty just giggled a little. "I remember when I first met him in my office, I thought he was after Bruce, so I ripped into him for ten minutes- accusing, mocking, and belittling him. He just sat there, didn't say a word until I was done." Betty just shook her head, "Then he says something that I never thought I would hear."

Darcy asked, "Hey, I was curious about that, what did he say to you?"

Betty replied, "He said to me, 'Oh, yes, my question for you, Dr. Ross, would you like to meet Dr. Banner in New York for dinner and then help me throw your bastard of a father in prison?' My jaw dropped and all I could say was, 'what?'."

Maria just smiled. "See what I mean? He always helps out, but he usually knows when to not go overboard.."

Jane just signed as a half smile formed on her face. "I wish we could repay the favor."

Unfortunately none of them knew that would be the night that Robert would snap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> Once again thank you to my beta Vanilla Ashes, next posting should maybe the end of this week or beginning of next!
> 
> Thank you to everyone.


	14. Snapped

Pepper was sitting with Jane, Darcy, Betty, and Natasha in the tower as their ladies night was drawing to a close. Maria had already left, needing to get to the Helicarrier for a certain time and the guys hadn't returned yet.

They were all watching Titanic and enjoying their quiet evening when Jarvis spoke.

 _"Ms. Potts, Agent Hall returned to the building about twenty-five minutes ago; he's currently in the gym. There is a problem that I cannot resolve."_ The women looked at each other, they had all noticed that the A.I. seemed troubled.

"Okay. What is the problem?" Pepper asked, concerned.

_"Well, he is in a disturbing and violent mood, and all attempts to calm him have failed."_

Everyone looked at each other in concern.

"Jarvis, please define what you mean by 'disturbing'," Pepper requested, with some trepidation in her voice.

_"Well, examples would be: shooting the punching bags, stabbing them with knives, throwing weights around, and smashing chairs and mirrors. He is currently punching the floor."_

As Pepper looked around at everyone in the room, they each appeared to be shocked. Pepper sighed lightly before she spoke." Thank you Jarvis, we will head down immediately."

On cue, they all stood up and hauled their asses down to the gym to see what was going on. As Pepper opened the doors, her jaw dropped; the gym had been messed up and destroyed. Chairs were broken, glass was smashed, the punching bags were totally destroyed, dumbbells were tossed about, and there in the middle was not the calm agent that had lived with them for half a year.

No, there was a man in clothes that were ripped to shreds, whose hands and arms were covered in blood. His face had blood caked on it as well, and he was muttering furiously, "Why? Why? How could they be attacked like that?" He slammed his arms hard against the ground- obviously not for the first time- which was only making the damage to himself worse.

"What do we do?" Pepper hissed to her companions. "The guys won't be able to get back in time. Should we say something or just wait for them to come home?" She turned and looked at them.

Natasha had a completely shocked expression on her face. "We need to intervene before he does something he will really regret."

Pepper then looked at the others, to see what they thought. Betty was silent, it seemed she was in complete shocked; Jane looked back at her with a wide eyed expression.

However, her dearest friend was gone. Pepper looked around confused before locating her- it seemed Darcy was taking matters into her own hands; she was trying to sneak up on Robert. Darcy was taking a long about way to get closer to him. He suddenly stopped, like an animal that had detected prey. His head lifted up, and he saw them. His eyes looked black with blood around them; he wasn't there.

His mouth started to move; it started to curl up. He smiled, but it was the most evilest smile possible. He lifted something off the floor. It was a sword. Natasha's face got serious.

"If we live through this, remind me to kill Barton for not putting my things back after he's done using them," Natasha muttered. It was obvious that she was really pissed right now, but whether it was at Clint for leaving her things out, or Robert for using them, was unclear.

"They hurt them. They did nothing, all they wanted and deserved was to be in peace!" he yelled.

"Who?" Pepper asked pleadingly, her heart pounding as she struggled to sound diplomatic and calm. It broke her heart to see him like this- Robert was always a caring soul and friend, he had always been there to help her out.

"They did nothing. They were just there. No one cares." Robert screamed again, almost accusing everybody for what had happened.

Pepper noticed that he lifted the sword and aimed it at Jane. She swore his evil smile got darker. Jane stepped back in fear. She could only hope that Jarvis would alert the others, if he felt this would get out of control.

Suddenly in the gym Pepper heard, "ROBERT! Who?" It was Darcy yelling behind him. Robert froze, standing there almost blankly as Darcy approached with him extreme caution.

"Robert, please come back to us, remember it's me, Darcy. Put the sword down please." He lowered the sword. Darcy motioned for the others to come over and she used hand signals on what to do. They separated and started to circle him, while talking to him in their most soft, caring voices.

"Robert, we will help you. We will help them," Betty promised.

"Trust us, Robert, please. We trust you," Jane stated.

"Robert, we will protect you and them," Natasha promised.

His head kept turning and turning. "Robert, we're your family." She noticed his eyes were becoming browner. They were reaching him from the darkness, bring him back.

"We are the ones that care about you," Betty said.

"We are the ones that love you," Jane promised.

"We are your Ohana," Darcy pleaded.

CLANG! The sword fell, and so did he. He fell into a ball of choking gasp of air. The ladies came closer and closer to him. Pepper was the first to approach him one she realised it was safe, the others followed and started to look at his wounds. Blood was coming out of the cuts, suddenly doors slammed opened.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" All the women turned and saw all the men standing at the entrance of the gym with their jaws open.

"Well, don't just stand there you идиоты. He needs medical attention, now!" Natasha ordered. (idiots)

* * *

"What the fuck? He did over thirty thousand dollars' worth of damage. Not to mention that he threatened all of you! I want to kick his ass, here and now." Tony said, pacing around the waiting room.

"Right now, that is the least of his problems. Wait until Fury and Maria get a hold of him," Clint commented. "He is going to be in a psych ward for a year, if he stills has a job."

"My Lady, are all of you okay?" Thor asked as he held her, Jane just nodded in reply.

"It was weird, like you looked into eyes, and he was someone different, do you know what that is like?" Darcy asked Loki, who was standing right next to her. He didn't get chance to reply as everybody looked towards the door when Bruce came out with a clipboard in his hand.

Bruce took a deep breath. "It's a miracle he didn't do more damage to himself. He lost about three pints of blood and has two broken fingers, but they are only green-stick fractures. He also sprained both of his shoulders and elbows," Bruce informed them all in a professional and closed tone.

"Why would he do that? What would make him that crazy? I mean, I've seen him upset, but that is, it's..." Steve drifted off, not finishing his sentence as he looked down slightly.

"Rage." Loki finished for him, his eyes and tone cold. "When I found out I was adopted- right before Odin went into Odinsleep- I went into my room and destroyed it. I wanted to destroy everything."

Jarvis interrupted the somber conversation. "Sir, Director Fury and Commander Hill have landed on the roof and is on the way to see all of you."

"Well, whoop de fucking doo. How the hell did he find out?" Tony grunted. "I need a drink."

**Maria's POV.**

Fury and Hill walked in and saw everyone standing around. They inquired about what had happened, and Bruce updated them on the injuries. "I think I know what may have started this rage."

Hill went into the room, she was angry; a few hours ago, she was telling everyone how she cared for him, and now she couldn't believe when she heard and saw him lying in the bed. Robert and her were starting to get serious, after six months. He was starting to break her walls down, slowly. She came back out of the room to join the others; Natasha and Pepper walked over to her and gave her support.

"Robert was in DC for the past two days. He and I have been talking about how to help Loki and Barton- in regards to the World Council. To add to that, Russia, Germany, Turkey, and France are apparently trying to arrest Natasha for her past occupations. If that wasn't enough, then, finally, Germany is inquiring about Clint and Loki too, for the connection to five deaths."

"Jesus, he's trying to defend the whole team by himself. No wonder he cracked," Tony exclaimed.

Loki looked at Tony, "That is what he was telling you, wasn't he?" Tony simply nodded in reply. Maria didn't know Robert had confided in Tony, and was even more surprised that Tony had kept the secret.

"Actually, no, that is not the reason, but I think this is why. On his way home, he stopped at the Nisky Hill Cemetery in Bethlehem, PA." Fury stated.

"Why would he go there?" Bruce asked.

"Is that where his wife and stepson are buried?" Steve asked. Maria's head snapped to look at him a fraction of a second than everybody else. "He drove me over to see Peggy. I said goodbye to her, and he was in the back seat, asleep. When I got the GPS out of the glove box, a card fell out, and on the back, there was a map with two plots marked."

"That explains why he always wants to drive to DC and not fly. He stops to spend some time there," Tony worked out.

"Exactly." Fury confirmed. "I got a phone call from the police department in Bethlehem three hours ago. They were looking for Robert to ask him some questions. When I inquired to the matter, they sent me this file. It's pretty disturbing."

Everyone just looked at him. Disturbing was not a term often used by him. Fury took out his phone and sent the file to Jarvis. When the images appeared up on a screen, everyone did a collective gasp; No one could have foreseen this.

The two tombstones of his wife and stepson were destroyed. It looked like blood was thrown on them. They were spray painted, the ground was dug up, and fake body parts were sticking out of the ground. There were signs around the sites that said, _'Death to the heroes,' 'Keep dealing with the Devil,'_ and _'Good thing they are dead now.'_

Maria was shocked, she remembered Robert telling her about the pain he went through when they died and that he still loved them. She knew that she would find will find these people with or without anyone's help.

Bruce walked out of the room almost immediately.

"That's sick," Steve growled as he shook his head in dismay, looking away from the image.

"That is just wrong on all levels." Tony agreed coldly.

"My God. It all makes sense now." Pepper commented. "Before you showed up, he was yelling in the gym, saying that 'they did nothing wrong'."

"What are the police going to do about it?" Darcy asked. almost interrupting. "I mean do they even have a clue who did it?"

"Not much. There are no video cameras in the area, no fingerprints, and no witnesses. There's not much they can do." This is did not sit well with the team. It was a horrible scene. "The F.B.I., caught wind of this, they sent information on this protest group to the police, they call themselves the T. A.P.P. or 'Those Against People in Power.' group. They are a radical group."

"After he saw that mess, he had to drive by himself for two hours to get home." Clint muttered, angry and bitterness laced in his voice.

"J, please pull up all footage of Hall when he got home last night." Tony ordered.

_"Right away, Sir."_

They saw Robert pull into his parking spot, get out of his car, and gather his things. It was very easy to see that he was depressed and bothered. He shuffled his feet and was hunched over. He walked over to the elevator and got on. Then, you could see him reaching for his phone; he put his phone to his ear. They could see it made him more pissed off.

"J, who is he talking to?"

_"Sir, that was an incoming call from Supervisor Smith at S.H.I.E.L.D., calling to complain about the treatment of trainees by Prince Odinson, Agent Barton, and Prince Laufeyson "_

Immediately, the three tried to look innocent but failed miserably, especially Barton. Natasha's hand swung around, whacking him on the back of the head before kicking his leg- she glared at him.

"That for was not putting my sword back after you were done," she glared at him..

Maria was getting annoyed, she really didn't give a damn about the sword. She was struggling to refrain from kicking the three dumb asses, especially as more time passed. _;Fucking hell',_ she thought to herself. Maria stomped her foot down, everyone looked at her, then they noticed her glare and did a collective shudder.

"What did you guys do?" Fury asked, glaring at the three idiots.

Clint cleared his throat slowly before speaking. "Well, they were getting cocky, so Thor acted like he was going to hit them with the hammer, but he would call it back before it hit them. Loki made their feet stick to the floor," Clint said.

"Nice, and what did you do?" Natasha demanded.

"Nothing that bad," Clint offered weakly.

"Bullshit! After I froze them to the ground, you used them for target practice and missed on purpose," Loki grassed on Clint. "One of them actually wet themselves!"

Simultaneously, Thor and Loki got smacked in the back of their heads by Jane and Darcy, who were also giving them the evil eye. Fury just shook his head.

Maria turned her attention back to the screen, watching Roberts movements as he ended the call and exited the elevator. His movements seemed normal when he decided to go right and approach the gym. However, he bumped the door and his briefcase came open, he threw it down to the ground harshly.

"Holy shit. That was the straw," Tony said.

"Yep, that is what did it," Clint agreed.

"What is this straw?" Thor asked.

"The straw that broke the camel's back is an expression. A person can only take so much stress. Robert was at his breaking point, so when the briefcase broke, even though it was so small, it was just the right amount to push him over the edge." Pepper explained. "Believe me, I have almost been there with him several times." She finished her explanation by pointing at a certain billionaire.

Maria was fuming, she closed her eyes, trying to remember the happy times with Robert.

 _Wham!_ The slamming sound came from behind him. It was Loki. "Enough of this petty talk. What are you going to do about it? These savages have no respect for the dead. I want to hunt these bastards down, and send them right to my daughter."

Maria looked at Loki and nodded, she thought to herself, _'Yes send those bastards to the dead, so that they can pay for what they did to Robert.'_

Darcy turned to face him. "Hey, Dr. Gloom, don't you fucking start. I have already had my limit of psycho friends for the day."

Loki looked at her, his expression softening. "I'm sorry, you know how I feel about the dead."

"I know, babe. We'll fix it for him." She promised.

"Hey, what about that dude on the bridge? Hemi, or whatever his name is." Tony inquired.

"Yes! Excellent idea, Man of Iron. I will go see Heimdall right away." With that, Thor ran to go visit the gatekeeper.

"So, what are you going to do about Robert?" Natasha asked Fury.

That got her attention, she glared at the director to see what he would do.

"Well, that's up to Tony, since it was his property that got damaged." Fury answered.

Maria felt herself relax a little, _'Good, that is fair.'_

"Eh, don't worry about it. I mean, I've already blown up my own house once because I was drunk. I'll just give Robert the access codes to the Hulk room."

"Just keep me updated if anything changes." Fury commented.

Maria looked at Fury and the others. "Director with all due respect- What are we going to do about Robert? He deserves our help." She questioned in a firm tone of voice, she noticed everyone looking at her. Maria didn't care, she wanted revenge for him and help him at the same time.

* * *

**Robert pov**

Later on, in the early hours of the morning, when everyone had gone to sleep, Robert's sedative started to wear off and he came to. "Ugh. Umm, Jarvis, where am I?" Robert asked in a shaky tone, like that of a child who was afraid.

_"Agent Hall, everything is going to be okay. You are in the medical bay. You have sustained some injuries."_

"Jarvis, what happened?" Robert questioned, pushing himself up slightly to look around. "The last thing I remember… I was getting off the elevator and going to the gym- my briefcase got caught and fell open."

 _"You apparently lost your temper, which were apparently caused by a series of events that just kept adding up."_ Jarvis explained. _"You were unresponsive to my attempts to calm you, and I had to send an alert for someone to assist."_

"Someone? Who was in the tower?" Robert asked. He thought of what could have been so bad and couldn't help but wonder if he had hurt anybody- he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had.

_"Ms. Potts, Dr. Foster, Dr. Ross, Ms. Lewis, and Agent Romanoff, sir."_

Robert immediately started to get upset, fearing the worse. "Oh god. Did I…?" he attempted, but couldn't even finish his sentence.

 _"Nobody else was hurt. You didn't touch anyone,"_ Jarvis reassured him, somehow figuring out what was going on in his mind.

"Why don't I remember anything? I am scared. Everyone must hate me. Can I please see the video?" Robert spluttered out, jumping from one thought to another.

_"Nobody is mad at you. Director Fury came by because the police wanted to ask you some questions. Why don't you go back to sleep? In the morning, everything will work out. Additionally, I am not allowed to show the video without permission. Ms. Potts ordered me."_

"Well, you could show me and I won't tell."

_"That would not be a wise choice; Ms. Lewis and Agent Romanoff said that if I do, they both will make me severely regret it."_

"Right, let's skip the video request."

_"Good choice."_

"I will try to go back to sleep then." Robert decided, laying back down on the bed, not sure if he could sleep now. "Jarvis?"

_"Yes, Agent Hall?"_

"Can you play some music from Enya?" He requested before sighing. "How bad was it Jarvis?"

 _"No problem. Try to rest. Everyone is very understanding, and everything will be okay, I promise." 'A Day without Rain'_ started playing faintly in the background.

"I don't know. Are you sure?" Robert asked, worry laced in his voice.

 _"Now, Agent Hall, have I ever lied to you? Tomorrow I will tell you about the time how Sir blew up his own house because he was drunk. Please do not worry, you will not lose us."_ The A.I. ensured.

"No, you have not lied to me. Good night, Jarvis, and thank you." Robert said in a calm voice.

_"Good night, Agent Hall."_

Robert managed to fall asleep, knowing that Jarvis would watch over him for the rest of the night.


	15. Someone does care

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Pepper POV**

Pepper woke up first, shortly followed by Tony. She slid out of bed to stretch and turned to look at Tony as he rubbed his hands over his face a few times. He was still on the bed when she suggested. "I think we should head down there and talk- that way we can work out what we can do."

Tony turned his head and looked at her, dropping his hands onto his lap. "I agree. I can get Happy to drive us down there."

Pepper thought for a second, contemplating the options. "No. Just us please, Tony." At his odd look at her, she decided to elaborate and explain her reasoning. "I would like it to be just the two of us- we can handle this matter together."

Tony lips curved upward. "Okay, let's go. I haven't driven in a while anyway." He agreed before sliding out of the bed. They both quickly got dressed- Tony obviously taking longer- before grabbing a quick bite to eat and exiting the building.

As they left the tower together, they didn't notice the blue Chevy Equinox, with a man and woman who were watching them.

* * *

**Father Arnold POV**

Father Arnold was disgusted. Yes, he was a man of God, but even he had a temper. To disturb the dead was wrong- plain and simple. In total, there were two graves destroyed and two others were damaged.

The surviving relatives of the two graves were understandably very upset.

The parents of one of the graves were poor, probably unable to have the gravestone of their son and daughter-in-law fixed anytime soon. They barely had enough to make end meet. They were talking to the priest about getting the graves fixed.

Father Arnold's eyes drifted to the carpark when a Rolls Royce pulled up- it wasn't a typical car he sees in the cemetery. He watched as a man wearing sunglasses, slipped out of the car and walked to the passenger side to open the door for his passenger. A woman wearing a business suit with strawberry blond hair. They were both middle aged and very attractive. They headed in his general direction but paused next to the damaged graves, seeming to examine the damage. It was odd to see an obviously wealthy couple to look a graves, most of their loved ones would be buried somewhere else. He was curious to what they were doing here and if their knew the two individuals whose graves had been destroyed.

* * *

**Tony's POV**

Tony felt sick, he had seen a lot of horrible things, but this- this was downright barbaric. It reminded him of when he was in a cave in Afghanistan. He was going to fix this, Robert deserved better, the dead deserved better. As he walked towards the church with Pepper, he noticed the damaged graves, he couldn't help but pause and stare at it.

Tony felt someone touch his arm, breaking his stare on the graves. Looking up at Pepper slightly startled, he smiled softly; he couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was. "Thanks," he muttered softly before turning to head to the church, that was when he noticed the elderly couple next to the priest.

She smiled at him. "Always," was the only word she spoke. Pepper took his hand and with a gentle pull they continued walking towards the priest and older couple.

"I am terribly sorry about all of this mess." Father Arnold apologized.

"That's um, actually why we are here, Father. You see, we know Robert Hall." Pepper started to converse.

"Robert Hall, a fine man, tragic to what happened to his family, but his faith in God is strong, and the Lord has carried him." Father Arnold answered, as his gaze flickered over to the graves. "He has seeked my words, in that matter, he has a good heart."

"Yes, yes, he does." Pepper agreed, her face laced with compassion. "Robert is a dear friend of ours, when we heard about this, it broke our hearts. We were curious about what will happen now."

"The police are still investigating, but they gave us the okay to clean that abomination up. We are getting it cleaned up the best we can, all four graves, and have notified the families." Father Arnold informed them.

"Wait, wait, four graves?" Tony interrupted. He couldn't believe that it was more than two graves, that was bad enough. His blood began to boil once again as he vouched to find the bastards that touched any of the graves.

"Yes, those rotten bastards, they wrecked the sites of my son and his wife," came a bitter voice from behind the priest; it was the elderly man and his wife. "Is it not bad enough that they had to suffer? But this? This is fascism, the Nazis were this cold to the dead. If I knew who did this, I would tell Captain America to beat their asses." The old man finished with such anger and passion- this could only be accomplished by somebody with first hand knowledge of the nazi's, this man was obviously a veteran's.

"Dan, what your language, we are by the house of the Lord." His wife lightly scolded. Tony looked at the couple, wondering if he would live that long to get to that stage and age with Pepper- knowing how reckless he is, probably not.

"Don't tell me to hush. I fought for this country, I fought in two wars, WWII and Korea. If those bastards have the right to do that, then I have the right to curse." Tony looked at the man, thinking to himself, _'Why couldn't this be my father? I might be a little less screwed up.'_

"Dan, now, I know you are upset, so am I, but hopefully the police will find them and they will be punished. We can do some fundraising together and see if we raise the money to fix your family's graves." Father Arnold pleaded.

"That won't be necessary, Father. We represent Stark Industries, and we would like to make a considerable donation to help the affected families out." Pepper said as she opened her purse, she pulled out a black suave checkbook. As she opened and pulled out a check, she signed it and gave it to the priest.

Father Arnold graciously accepted the check. "Um, Ma'am, I believe you've forgotten to allocate an amount?"

Dan and his wife's mouths were hanging open. "Thank you, that is so very kind of you. How can we ever repay you?" Dan asked.

"Please, don't worry about, you have fought for our country. Plus I am sure that if Captain America knew that I did not help a veteran out- He would kick my ass." Tony said with a light laugh. He wasn't joking about Steve, he didn't want to see a disappointed look from his friend, especially not one about this. "Agent Hall, is a man who loves his country. He has protected my company and the love of my life. Such loyalty is rare and should be respected. If I can't trust a priest to do the right thing. Then the human race is in deep shit. Also we will be sending a crew down here set up a security system, video cameras, better locks, higher fences and all that jazz."

The Father just looked at him with a slightly solemn expression. "You are very giving, but the church could never afford that."

Tony just smiled at him. "My apologies, Father, allow me to introduce myself properly. I'm Tony Stark: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, and Philanthropist." He noticed a small glare from Pepper. "Well, not so much a playboy anymore," he amended as he wrapped one arm around Pepper. "Don't worry about the cost, I'm covering it."

Father Arnold smiled gratefully. "Thank you, I promise everything will be fixed and at an honest price."

"Including the graves." Tony emphasised. The look on the older couples face made coming here even more worth it- he finally understood why people liked giving so much, it was to help people like them. After the discussion had finished, they said their goodbyes, leaving behind a number to contact them if required before leaving.

* * *

**Nobody's POV**

The two individuals sitting in the Chevy, who had been tailing Stark looked at each other curiously before picking up their phone and dialing their boss. "Do you copy?" One of them asked as the phone connected. After a confirmation word that it was secure, they continued. "We have report, we believe a 'Robert Hall' is of important. Requesting more information on him."

They didn't have to wait long for their request to be acknowledged and for them to receive new orders. They watched as a different car and agents took off after Stark- they needed to switch up cars and agents to avoid detection.

Within an hour of the requested, basic information had been collected regard Robert Hall, including that he was a known agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Baron von Structer looked over the limited information gather, ordered a full and detailed search on him. When alone, he stared at the image of him. "Agent Hall- Please to make your acquaintance." He said softly, a wicked smile tugging at his lips.

* * *

**Avenger's Tower**

**Nobody's Pov**

"Has anyone seen him?" Clint asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

"No. Not since Bruce went down there and told him that he could leave." Natasha answered.

Bruce walked in the room, and all eyes turned to him. "He is okay. I am pretty sure he is just embarrassed, and is hiding in shame." The agent just nodded back and went back to watching TV.

"I don't understand this shame? What had happen was bad, but he is among friends and ones that care. Why would this shame stop him from talking to us?" Thor asked, he had the usual confused golden retriever expression on his face.

Loki just shook his head, "For once, I'd rather not know. Just leave him be, he will come around when he is ready."

Darcy looked over at Jane, stood up and she motioned for Jane to get up as well,

"Where are you going, my Lady?" Loki inquired, but once glance at her eyes and he backed off immediately, looking down at his drink.

"Everyone can relax. I am done hiding." Robert spoke as he came around the corner from the elevator. Nobody hid their surprise at him turning up. "I would have stayed hiding for a lot longer, but my boss told me 'enough of this shit'."

"Who is your boss?" Steve asked, confused by the response.

"Simple- my stomach." Robert said with a chuckle and poured himself a cup of coffee with creamer. "That usually makes most of my decisions." He added before he grabbed some eggs and bacon, when he sat down, it was clear that everybody was not going to stop staring at him.

He let out big sigh, "This isn't the first time I lost it. I was nineteen, I was working three jobs, two full time, one part time, I was popping Viviran, and drinking a lot of coffee." He sipped his coffee, taking his time. "It was a busy night, I was a busboy, there was a lot of pressure. My bosses were yelling at me, screaming at me to clean the tables… the next thing I remember, I was being restrained by four full grown men. I had taken three knives and slam them through the chef's stainless steel table." He took another deep breath. "I quit before they could fire me, but you know what the hardest part was?"

His eyes became misty, "Wow- can't believe that I still get choked up." He quickly composed himself- or at least attempted to. "I went home told my parents what had happened. You know, what they said just like everything else you've done in your life, you fuck it up." A tear went down his face he notice everyone's reaction. "I am not asking for your pity! Just I want you to know that I love you and I will protect you."

"Well fuck you too, you may not want our pity and that is fine. But we still care and will protect you just as much!" Darcy spatted back.

"I agree" Clint nodded "No more alone shit, we don't let Tony do it, and now you are on that list."

"We are a team, "Steve said, "Clint is right. Hall no more of this stuff. You are a good man, we don't you to crack again."

Hall looked at everyone, "Okay, have a seat and let's talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes
> 
> Thank you everyone for being patience and thank you to my Beta, Vanilla Ashes 
> 
> Next posting sometime next week


	16. Set It In Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See notes at end
> 
> Very sorry about the long wait
> 
> Thank you to Vanilla Ashes for Beta

**Cindy’s POV**

 

Cindy sat in one of the vans in New Mexico with two other individuals. Matt and Frank were going in different vans too- they were being split up. They were currently packing up all of Frank’s stuff that was related to the project. Earlier that day, Matt almost got killed because of his big mouth; _ ‘dumbass’ _ she thought, how her life has changed.

When she was growing up, she wanted to be the President, that of course changed when she hit her teens. She played that stupid stock market game in high school and discovered that she was incredibly accurate; she broke the record in the school  _ and _ the entire state. After that, she had been featured on the local news, in a variety of newspapers and a local branch of national chain. The manager of the national chain was a family friend and gave her job when she graduated from school. 

She became an instant hit there, her clients became rich, people in her town flocked to her advice. The parent finance company noticed her success, and moved her up to a bigger branch; at 20 years old she was living by herself in Philadelphia. Her boss was an ass at first, but once again her magic worked and she started making people and him money, he came around. After a year, she was in New York City, that is when the multi millions came in, and then one day at lunch a man approached her. He made her an offer that was incredible; That was five years ago.

* * *

 

 

 

Matt, Frank, Nicholas, Drake, and Dom were inside Frank's house, they were making sure that all the materials and evidence of the plan was packed up and in the vans. “So, where are we going?” Frank asked, directing his question to Drake.

“We are going to New York State to meet up with the rest of the team. We might as well leave; are you going to miss your home?” Drake asked with a hint of cockness in the voice.

“What? This dump? Fuck no, come on Matt let’s blow this popsicle stand.” Frank said indifferently, as he lightly smacked Matt’s arm. 

“Yeah,” Matt answered half heartedly, as he turned to walk out the door, with Frank following him. 

“Dom, you triple check everything and make sure you leave a gift.” Drake stated to the older heavier man, who just nodded and walked away with his bag.

Drake and Nicholas turned to leave and headed out of the house as Dom walked further into the house. He set his bag onto the table and carefully unzipped it. With completely concentration, he slowly took the object out of the bag and set it down on the table. He blinked before pressing one of the buttons, igniting two beeps. Dom smiled sadistically as he noticed a yellow folder on the table, he picked it up and stuffed some random papers in it. He slipped out his pen and carefully wrote ‘Matt Jenkins’ on it, before placing the folder on top of the device. It beeped once again, causing Dom to grab his things and leave the house.

As he left the house, Drake and Nikolas looked at him, “Is it done?” Drake asked.

Dom nodded simply. “Yes, pick up the folder, and they will have ten seconds to get out.” 

“Good, just remember no evidence, just like at the other house.” Drake reminded them before they separated to get into the vans.

As Drake opened the van door, the sound brought Cindy back to reality and she looked at him. Drake plugged his phone into a charger and turned on the GPS, the robotic voice spoke with a british accent. “You will arrive at your destination in thirty-three hours.”

“British, I thought you would have picked a Russian voice.” Cindy commented as the three vans pulled away, simultaneously.

Drake turned to look at her, “Nah, wouldn’t be able to understand them, when it says make a left at Albuquerque.” He offered her a small smile.

Cindy just shook her head, a small smile tugging at her own lips.

* * *

 

  
  


**Nova Scotia**

 

It was completely deserted, it looked like nobody had ever lived in the area, as the plane flew over and got closer to the ground. There was a very small window to conceal the aircraft from the radar of the military. As the plane started to slow down the jeep on back of it was ready to drop off. It would be a very bumpy ride but the cargo would be okay. 

The back ramp lowered down and the jeep came flying out the back; A second later, a parachute was deployed open, holding the jeep in the air for a few moments before it hit the ground with a thud. The jeep kept the momentum of the aircraft and was stopped a mile later. A male, with medium length hair, stepped out of the vehicle scanning the area. He sat back down and the driver turned on the Jeep, they drove for about hour to meet the other half of the team at a predetermined spot.

About two minutes later, a black SUV, drove up towards them, parking a few meters away. That was where the equipment was transferred into the truck.

* * *

 

 

**Asgard**

 

On Asgard, in the Royal Palace, King Odin with Queen Frigga were seeing over the royal court when the doors opened and Heimdall walked in with the request to speak to the King and Queen about an urgent matter.

Odin looked upon the loyal gatekeeper. “Heimdall, why have you approached us?”

Himadell seemed troubled, and answered immediately. “Your Majesty and my Queen; I had sense a great presence of danger on the planet of Midgard to befall on Prince Thor and Loki.”

Frigga was immediately concerned, giving Himadell her full attention. “Speak of this danger and hold nothing back.”

Himadell took a moment before replying cryptically. “I sense there's a danger that will approach your two sons and it is not one that they may be able to stop, nor their allies the Avengers.”

* * *

 

  
  


**Avengers Tower**

  
  


Darcy walked into the communal area. “Hey guys,” she greeted, gaining their attention. “I have just received word that the Today Show wants all of you to appear next Friday in Central Park; it’ll be a part of their Days of Summer.” 

Steve nodded, being the first to speak up. “I think it sounds fun, they always have a lot of people there. It sounds like a great idea.”

Clint frowned, glancing at his phone. “Damn, I can’t make it. I have a mission, Sorry.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. “Bullshit. You don’t have a mission. We both are free for that day.” Clint sighed in defeat, his lower lip pouting out slightly.

“That is a great idea Darcy,” Tony inputted, looking at her before turning his attention Bruce. “Are you going to be there, Brucie?”

Bruce looked skeptical. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Come on Brucie, stop being a wussy.” Tony inputted. “Everything will be fine.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if something happened.” Bruce pointed out, blatantly. 

Betty placed a comforting hand on his knee. “Bruce, the Hulk would love it, if you went- he could see all the children calling for him.”

“Loki and Thor- are you in?” Tony asked them. 

Thor shrugged, his arm draped around Jane's shoulders. “Um… I guess.”

Loki gave an uninterested look. “No.”

Jane and Darcy looked at each other before turning to face their respective partners. 

“You should attend, it would be a great opportunity,” Jane told Thor. “So, you should say yes, not ‘I guess’.”

“And it would look great for your image, being in a group interview with everybody. So, yes, you will be going. Got it?” Darcy told Loki in a stern voice her eyes narrowing slightly at him.

Thor nodded, confirming he was going to go, as Loki made a gulping sound and lowered his head. “Yes dear.” 

Agent Hall just shook his head. “I love it, two powerful people from another planet, whipped by women; all is good in the universe.”

Loki looked at Robert with disdain. “Oh pray tell, what were you like when you were married.”

Robert chuckle. “I admit, I was whipped and I deathly afraid of pissing off my wife. She would watch that network show, I.D.- you know the one, that shows how to murder someone 24 hours a day. Yeah well, she watched it that for about five hours a day. I didn’t want to be a dead guy.” 

Everyone laughed at the comment before Darcy walked out to confirm the interview.

* * *

 

 

**Cindy’s POV**

 

Cindy glanced out of the window as the three vans crossed into Kansas, near to Dodge City, and looked at Drake when his phone went off. Seconds after answering the call, his replied came out concerned. “That is unfortunate, we will have to deal with it once they get to the cabin.” He hung up the phone and looked at her for a long moment. 

Cindy was immediately concerned, wondering what was going on. “What’s going on?” She questioned. Over the past ten hours, Drake and she had been talking non-stop; they discussed each other's lives, beliefs, and opinions. Being separated by an ocean and being brought up in completely different environments didn’t seem to affect them as much as they first thought. They realized that they agree on a lot of things. Cindy had grown to like him; he was different from the men she had to deal with, he wasn’t snobby, egoistical, ruthless, or self centered. He was straight to the point, driven, quiet, and grounded. 

Cindy’s focus returned to Drake as he spoke. “The F.B.I. is aware of Matt disappearance and his house has burnt to the ground.” 

Cindy looked at him, with slight wide eyes. “You're going to kill him, aren't you?” 

Drake took a moment before he replied. “Does that affect things, if we do?”

Cindy took a breath and had to take a few moments to think things through. They were talking about her cousin being killed, but she didn’t hold back her opinion. “As long as you kill that son of a bitch. It doesn’t matter to me what else happens.”

Drake looked at her and smiled. “You would make a great addition to HYDRA.” 

Cindy looked at him. “Thanks, so are you seeing anyone?” She asked, her lips forming a seducing smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next posting will on Thursday
> 
> Thank you to Vanilla Ashes for Betaing


	17. Matt Part 3

**Chapter Eighteen**

 

**Matt’s POV**

 

Matt was in the van with a guy called Dom; he was on the heavy side, older and unfortunately, a talker. Dom had been talking nonstop since Arizona, about food, family, his stupid dog, and his wife. Matt could give two shits about his wife; Dom was complaining about her cooking, choices in TV shows, and her damn dog. Matt hate the little bastard so much, that he wanted to shoot the dog. 

About an hour after they entered Kansas, Dom’s phone went off, he answered and immediately started to look at Matt very coldly.

Dom was on the phone for a few minutes, and after the call, was suddenly silent. 

This scared the shit out of Matt; what had happened? Why was Dom now glaring at him? Matt actually wished that Dom would start talking again, because this kind of silence was deafening. After a few miles Matt could not take it anymore. “Look I know might regret this, but what the hell happened? I know it has to do with me.”

Dom looked at the man, and for a moment it appeared as if he wasn’t going to reply. “There are a few problems.” He stated before continuing. “I am going to ask you a few questions, and if you like, I will have to put a bullet through your brain.”

Matt just swallowed, “Okay, ask away, I have nothing to hide.” 

Dom just smiled at him, “Good, I was hoping you would say that.”

* * *

 

  
  


A few minutes later, Matt felt the gun pushed against his head with force. He was terrified, heart racing; he felt like it was going to jump out of his throat. “I swear man, I swear on Henry’s soul- I didn’t tell anybody about our plans. Please, I want the monsters dead.” 

Dom did not say a word, he slowly cocked the hammer back until it clicked. He just sat there with the gun opening, directly in Matt’s ear opening. The window was open so any of the blood, or brain matter wouldn’t spray on the inside of the van. 

It has been this way for the past ten miles. Matt was pleading for his life, the sweat poured around his head, his pupils were wide as they could be. Dom just kept driving with one arm like it was perfectly normal. 

Matt wanted to scream, but he knew that would be certain death. “Dom, please I swear on Virgin Mary’s soul, I did not tell anyone about the trip.” He repeated. 

The gun lifted towards the ceiling, the hammer was slowly allowed back into a resting position. Dom’s arm pulled back into his body, and the gun went back into his pocket. Matt was unsure what to do, after a few miles the passenger window went back up. Matt didn’t know what to say, or if he should say anything, his throat felt like his heart was still in there. 

Dom simply kept his eyes forward, he cracked his neck to left and then to the right. A few second later, he continued to talk about his wife- this story was about her burning meatloaf and cupcakes. Matt was very appreciative to hear him talking again, even if it was another story.

* * *

 

**Drake’s POV**

 

In the van that had Drake and Cindy, they were in front of Dom and Matt, Drake had been paying somewhat attention to what was going on through the rearview mirror. “Well, it appears that Matt has been telling the truth.” Drake said.

“He is still alive?” Cindy replied in a lower sounding grumble.

“You don’t seem happy. You almost seem disappointed.” Drake pointed out curiously- if not a tad confused. “Why?” 

“He is a weak link, a soft spot, in my business of money. That leads to doubt, and doubt can lead to failure.” Cindy answered coldly. 

“I am impressed, have you always been this way?”

“Once I got transferred to Philadelphia and really started to manage the important money. My boss then explained to me that choices that I make must quick and with conviction.” Cindy replied, looking at him, showing her true colors.

* * *

 

  
  


**Frank's POV**

 

Frank was in the last van with Nicholas. They really didn't speak to each other the whole time. 

Nicholas’ phone went off and he immediately answered it. 

Frank took notice to it, he paid attention to the call. “Problems?” Frank asked when the call had ended.

Nicholas looked over at him and then returned his gaze to the road. “Nothing that could not be expected. We are still on schedule.”

Frank deeply debated in his mind, whether he should question the driver. But he knew that these men could kill in a blink of an eye. So he figured that it was best to leave it.

It was a little while later, that Nicholas looked at him. “Did you get to say goodbye?”

“Huh?” Frank questioned, confused. Firstly, he never expected to be spoken to, and secondly, what on earth was he going on about. 

“Your sister, did you get to say goodbye to her?” He clarified. 

Frank looked down, he didn’t like talking about his sister anymore, it was just too depressing. But nevertheless, he answered the question. “No, we were joking around and I had left the building to go home, to shower. I should have stayed.” 

“So, you could have died?”

“No. I might been able to see that thing, and we could have ran. She could still be alive.”

“You don’t know that, and you never will. I saw my mother get shot in front of me. That day bombs were dropping from the sky... There were soldiers from the United Nation around, they were supposed to help, keep the peace. My mom came running out of the house, to see that if was okay. She was running towards a checkpoint they told her to stop, but she wouldn't because she wanted to get her son, to me. So they shot her, right before she got to me.” Nicholas paused, almost as if he wasn’t going to continue to a moment. “I ran to her, the blood came gushing out of her wound. Here last words to me, were to not forget that moment… and to avenge her. I looked around for help, but the soldiers did not care about her or me; my father was screaming at the soldiers. He punched one of them, so they arrested him, and I never saw him again, either.”

Frank listened to the man’s words, he could understand the hate inside of Nicholas and why he joined HYDRA. 

The more he thought about it, the more he wondered what the hell was waiting for him. Any job that he could do for HYDRA, would be considered as an act of terrorism. Was that what he wanted? He didn’t trust the Government at all, could he trust Hydra more? At least they were willing to do what had to be done. 

“So...” Frank began as he looked at Nicholas. “...are there opportunities to advance in HYDRA?”


	18. Well that was Different

**Avenger’s Tower**

**New York City**

 

“ **BOOM”**

 

The explosion ran throughout the entire tower in the early hours of the morning. The whole building shook causing the cabinets and drawers to open, fall over and their contents to spill out onto the ground. 

Pepper was in her office, the explosion knocked over all of her neatly stacked files and papers down like Godzilla in Tokyo. 

Loki was carefully constructing a card tower that came crashing down, much to his dismay.

Natasha and Clint were sparring in the gym, the explosion causing the both of them to lose the balance as they fell to the ground on top of each other. 

Agent Hall was on his floor, finally falling asleep, after being awake all night; one of the side effects of the medicine that he took for his sleep disorder, was occasional insomnia. 

Thor was in the common kitchen making a wonderful sandwich, he had just lifted the plate off the counter, ready to head to his floor, when the explosion happened. He lost his balance which sent the sandwich crashing to the ground.

Outside of the lab, the smoke poured through the windows, half of them broken. The emergency vents were turned on automatically, but they had trouble sucking the smoke out. The sprinkler system started to rain in the lab, Jarvis voice could barely be heard over the broken speakers. 

In the wreckage, team science (Tony, Bruce, Jane and Betty) were all in the lab, they were joined by Darcy before the blast had taken place. 

Darcy was knocked back, straight onto her back. “I am going to totally fucking shoot somebody.” She moaned out. 

Loki suddenly appeared, he was obviously pissed by the disturbance, but it only took his a second before he noticed Darcy and instantly was by her side. His eyes glanced over her, but he relaxed when she confirmed that she was uninjured, and remarked how she wanted to taser whoever was responsible.

Jane and Betty were on the left end of the lab, they too were knocked over on the floor, both had some minor cuts and bruises on them from it.

“Jane, are you okay? What the hell happened?” Betty asked, groaning as she pushed herself up into a seated position, looking around for the cause.

“UUgghh, yeah, I think I am okay. Tony isn’t going to be after I kick his ass.” Jane grunted out.

“Bruce, Tony, are you okay?” Betty yelled out, when there wasn’t an immediate reply, she continued. “Guys talk to me.” 

“Hey, I am over here, can someone get this table off of me. Damn that is going to leave a mark.” Tony wheezed out, barely being heard over the continued racket. 

“Stark! What the Fuck did you do now!” Hall shouted out.

“Lady Jane, are you okay?” Thor yelled out as he entered the room after Hall.

“Dr, Ross, Dr Foster, where are you at?” Steve called, also entering the room. “The smoke is too thick to see clearly.”

“Dumbass. What did you do? I bet Bruce told you not to do it.” Clint commented with an irritated tone.

“See, this is what happens when they don’t sleep, or eat.” Darcy said as she was being helped up by Loki “Goddamn geniuses; they are worse than crack addicts when it comes to quitting.”  

“Sorry Darcy, we all have been very busy.” Clint replied as he continued to look around. “Bruce, where are you at?” 

Clint, Thor, Steve, and Darcy, made their way to side where they could see Jane and Betty.

“Tony, where the hell is Bruce at?” Hall asked. “Loki could you please help the village idiot.”

Loki waved his hand, and the table lifted off Tony

“Thanks, Rudolph.” Tony replied sarcastically, before pointing to the other side of the lab. “I don’t know, he was over there.”

“Tony!!!!” Bruce growled out in a deep tone.

“Uh-Oh, I am in deep trouble.” 

“No shit, you dickmonkey! So is everyone else!” Robert shouted at Tony, not even hiding how pissedhe was about the whole situation.

Everyone tried to give Bruce space, his eyes were bright green. They tried to back away but then security produces kicked in and large metal sheets of steel came down. Everyone was trapped with a man that they loved, who was about to explode in anger. As he grew larger and larger, the clothes shredded the muscles grew as his skin turned green.

Then the Hulk stood up and growled. “HULK MAD. HULK SMASH METAL MAN!” 

As the Hulk came closer to Tony, who was still a little confused about the matter from having a table land on him. 

“Um, hey there, buddy.” Tony started, standing their defensiveless. “Look, I am sorry, I should have listened to Brucie, but…” that was as far as he got.

“METAL MAN STUPID. METAL MAN NEVER LISTEN TO PUNY BANNER!” Hulk yelled and then raised his massive arms to beat his chest. Everybody tensed up, not wanting to make any sudden movements.  

Robert looked around. Thor was lifting his hand in order to call his hammer, Clint and Natasha were ready to move at a moments notice, Steve was looking at Robert, to try and come up with a plan. Loki was keeping his distance with Darcy.

Loki and Hulk weren’t on the best of terms, even though they have been on the same team for almost a year. Loki started to walk away from the Hulk, moving Darcy with him protectively.

“PUNY GOD, HULK SMASH TOO!” Hulk yelled as he stepped away from Tony, and instead turned his attention to the demi-god. 

Darcy let go of Loki and stormed over towards the Hulk. Robert grabbed Steve’s arm and pulled him out of the way of the scorned woman. She walked right in between a God and the Hulk, who had raised his fist. “NO! YOU DON’T FUCKING TOUCH HIM!!” She yelled angrily. “THAT IS MY BOYFRIEND, AND I LOVE HIM!!” 

The Hulk paused but they way his whole body tensed showed that he didn’t like being yelled at, regardless of the reason, by any of the women in the tower. A fast pace clicking sound suddenly enter the room.

They all turned around at the sound of a set of heels clicking furiously as they approached. “ANTHON--” Pepper began to shout as she stormed into the office. 

The hulk growled lowly, as the high pitched yelling, as Darcy threw her hand around the woman's mouth, silencing her- which was a good call. 

“Hulk,” Betty started softly as she took a step forward. “Why do you want to hurt Tony?” She asked him calmly, but staring at him like a child who did something wrong, also placing herself directly in his view.

“Metal man hurt Banner, Banner Mad at Metal Man.” The Hulk mumbled out while pointing at Tony.

“Hulk, I know you are mad at Tony, but just take a breath.” Betty replied in a very motherly tone. “Take a step back and just relax, please.” 

Betty took some steps with the Hulk and held out her hand, when the Hulk reached out and touched it, the silence was thick with anticipation. Suddenly, the Hulk jerked back, turned away from her and slowly decreased in size until it was once again Banner. 

Everybody watched in surprise, apart from Betty who grabbed the first thing she could and met him on the floor to keep him covered. 

Tony stood up, and wiped some of the dust off of him, “Well that was fun. Everything is good, right?” He asked with his trademark smile showing.

Pepper instantly stormed up to him, “Anthony Stark! Everything is not ‘good’. My office is trashed, not to mention what  _ just _ happened! What did you do?” She demanded.

The entire team was glaring at Tony, with the exception of Bruce was still under the effects of hulking out. 

Tony ran a hand through his hair. “I need a drink.” He declared, igniting a groan from Pepper.

  
  
  


**Avenger’s Tower**

 

After the events of the day, Robert felt drained and tired so he just on the edge of the bed, holding his wallet open in his hands. There was really no movement, except two of fingers, lightly gliding over the photo. The lights weren’t on either, no sound of music or TV. Eventually, he laid the wallet on the bed, it showed the picture of a man, woman and teenage son. The feeling of loss was in air. There was no movement, for a little while, then he brought his arms up to his head to hold it in a cradle. Sounds of faint little gasps of air started to fill the room as Robert tried to hold himself together. 

His phone went off, which cut through the atmosphere and almost made him jump in surprise. Robert didn’t move for a long time, but ended up answering the call right before it would have gone to voicemail.

“Hello.”

_ “Hello. Is Agent Robert Hall there?” A male asked. _

“Speaking.” Robert replied shortly.

_ “Agent Hall, this is Father Arnold,” he began. _

“Oh, um, hi, Father, How can I help you?”

_ “I just wanted to let you know that repairs have been made and we have reopened the sites. The police are still investigating, but they have cleared the scene.” Father Arnold informed him politely.  _

“Thank you, Father.” Robert replied, the relief evident in his voice. “How were you able to repair the sites so quickly?”

_ There was a few seconds before the Father replied. “An anonymous donor helped out; he was very kind and generous.” _

“Thank you Father, I will be down when I can.”

“ _ God bless my son, Have a good day.”  _

Robert hung up the phone, and set it back on the stand. He picked up the wallet and laid down on the bed, just staring at the photo. He felt so alone, he knew that everyone cared, but for some reason he did not feel that warmth in his heart. 

Suddenly there was an arm that came over his chest, surprising him, he turned to look at who it was. Robert was gazing into the soft blue eyes, her long brown hair out of a ponytail. 

“Hey, you okay? Jarvis gave me a heads up that you were feeling depressed.” Maria asked, gazing at him lovingly.

Robert just nodded, she looked up and saw the picture. “I know you loved them, and you always will.” 

He lowered his head, he felt guilty that he still loved them, and that she could never replace them. 

“Robert Hall, look at me.” Maria ordered in a soft voice. He raised his brown eyes to look at her, knowing that they were moist and red. Her soft fingers touched his chin, she moved his head just a little so that she could stare into his eyes better. “Your heart is big enough for everyone. I don’t mind sharing, I care for you.” 

Robert smiled a little and nodded. “Thank you.” He folded up the wallet and set it on the stand.

She kissed him on the head, and they just laid there for a while, before she broke the silence. “Jarvis, no disturbance for at least one hour, copy that?” She asked softly, although, it was practically an order.

“ _ I will make sure of that Agent Hill.” _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my wonderful Beta Vanilla Ashes,


	19. Arrival and a New Interest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See notes at the end
> 
> Arrival at the Camp  
> a Relationship begins

**Chapter Twenty**

**Upstate New York**

**Finger Lakes Area**

**Matt's POV**

Matt could hardly see anything due to the late hour, even with the beams of his headlights. He knew that they were in New York, and that they were in the northern part of the state, but apart from that, the only signs of civilisation were trees and the occasional vehicle passing them.

"Where are we going?" Matt asked Dom cautiously, he was still nervous how close he had come to getting shot, only a few hours ago.

Matt saw Dom's head turn a little as he replied. "We are meeting up with the other half of the team."

"I am assume that these are the actual hitmen, or snipers?" Matt asked as he began to relax slightly.

The driver remained silent for a second before replying. "You could say that; they are not afraid of getting their hands dirty."

Matt just nodded and remained quiet. He took a sip of his soda, that they got when they all stop to fill up.

Twenty minutes later, they turned onto a bumpy road, following the other vans. Which led to a few cabins, one which had its lights on. One by one, the vans all parts up outside of the cabin.

"Time to get out." Dom informed him.

Matt looked around, to see everybody else getting out and slid out of the vehicle before walking to join the group. When he saw Cindy and Frank, he noticed that they did not seem happy to see him there. Bowing his head, he remained where he was, instead of walking up to them.

Upon hearing Drake's voice, he looked up and listened. "There are five cabins, all are equipped with bathrooms and necessities. Nicholas and Frank, you will share the first one; Dom and Matt, the second; Cindy will be with me in that one." Then he pointed to another two cabins, one had a light on. "You are forbidden to enter those cabins, if you enter them, you will die. If we tell you to stay in the cabin, then you obey."

Frank and Cindy nodded in agreement, Matt was surprised how agreeable his two cousins have become, he figured he should go along with it, so he nodded along. They unloaded their belongings from the vans and went into their assigned cabins.

The cabins were on the old side, but they looked reasonable. There was a bathroom off to the side of the wall, the kitchen was very basic, small stove and refrigerator that look like something out of a college room.

Matt set his bag down on the floor next to the one bed. "This cabin is nice; does HYDRA own them?" He asked.

"Yes, we meet here sometimes, they serve the purpose. Come sit, you must be hungry." Dom replied.

Matt was hungry but he didn't really trust the man. But Matt's stomach betrayed him and made a fierce growl. So, knowing that the gig was up, he sat down at the table.

Dom opened up the refrigerator and pulled out some take out containers, he opened and set two onto the table.

Matt opened it up and it was a nice looking Chef Salad, with some Italian dressing on the side. "I thought we would not feel like cooking so we arranged for food to be here tonight." Dom explained as he sat in the chair.

Matt agreed and went about eating his food but he couldn't help and wonder, what will come in the coming days.

After dinner, Matt went outside to look at that sky, he used to do it as a child. He could still remember many nights of lying on the front yard with Henry. They would make up their own constellations and stories about what was out there. Matt heard a door open and close behind him and turned around, he saw Drake walking towards him.

"Why are you outside?" Drake demanded in a low voice. "I told you all to stay in the cabins and _not_ look around."

Matt looked at him. "Sorry. I didn't hear you say about staying in our cabins. I just came out to look at the sky and remember why I am doing this?"

Drake gave him a puzzled look. "Explain?"

Matt told him about the memories that he had, and when he was done, Drake nodded and walked away, leaving him alone for the time-being- but he knew it wouldn't get away with disobeying the rules again.

* * *

Drake closed the door behind him as he entered the cabin. Cindy was on the couch holding a wine glass- it was almost empty.

"So, what was that about?" She questioned, lightly.

"Eh, Matt was outside. I wanted to see what he was doing." Drake replied shortly, before noticing that Cindy was patiently waiting for him to continue on. "He was looking at the sky, Matt said he was remembering the past." He expanded, walking over to her and sitting down.

Cindy just shook her head,. "His head was always on another planet, dreaming about ways to make the world better." She took a sip of wine. "And his brother, they once spent an entire week just staring at the stars." She informed him in a condescending tone of voice.

"Must be nice, though. I can understand a bond between two people." He picked up a beer and took a few sips. He refocused on her, before raising his hand to gently run through her hair and then slipping down to touch her neck. "Why is it so easy for you to give everything up?"

Cindy looked at him, her stare intense. "Because, I have always wanted to do something with my life- something more." She placed her hand on his lap. "HYDRA, gives me that opportunity. I plan on embracing the opportunity."

Drake smiled her her, his fingers idly playing with her hair as his palm remained pressed against her neck.

"You seem to be a man that has needs, and I have not been able to find a man of your caliber in a while." Cindy informed him seductively, a small smirk playing on her lips as she slid her hand up his leg.

Drake smiled at her, he was really starting to enjoy her company. "Well, my mother always told me to be caring to a woman's needs." He muttered as he stood up and offered a hand to Cindy.

"Good Boy." She teased as she accepted his hand and rose from the couch.

Drake found himself pulling her flush against him, when her arms wrapped around his neck. Letting his hands slide down, he squeezed her butt, smirking in approval before stepping back in order to remove his own shirt.

They way her eyes drifted over his torso, showed her approval of his body, even with the cuts and scars from previous injuries. She tenderly placed her hand over one of the injures. "See, this is what I mean- this is real." Cindy informed him as her hand grazed another. "This isn't on the pretty Wall Street types."

Drake nodded, understanding what she was talking about, but didn't respond. Instead, he used his fingers to cup her head up and kissed her. When her tongue demanded attention, he felt a smile tug out her lips and pulled back- only long enough to remove her top. The mere-seconds it took at him to appreciate her gold bra, was enough for her to step back and pull him with her towards the bed. He barely had enough time to ensure the door was closed before willingly going with her.

* * *

**Robert pov**

Robert hated when he had to talk to mid level superiors; it was a waste of oxygen, in his opinion. But today he had no choice, Maria had an important meeting with Fury, which meant they were not available for his request, therefore, he had to go to Sitwell. Robert has never liked him, and if you would ask Sitwell, he would agree that the feeling is mutual.

Sitwell looked up from his desk as Robert walked into the room. "Agent Hall, how may I help you, today?"

"Hello, Agent Sitwell. I would like to know why you have A problem with my report

"Concerning what matter Agent?"

"Ah, yes, you did not fill it out correctly; it needs to be completed correctly." Sitwell informed him with a smug expression, before handing the report back.

Robert took the file and started to look it over and then saw the area highlighted

area was what type of material. He couldn't hold back the growl that left his lips. "How do you expect me to fill this part out, when we don't know what type of material was used? Tony doesn't even know, and it was in his lab!"

Sitwell just looked up at Hall and smirked. "Gee, Hall. Can't take a little joke? Are you going to go cry to Fury or Hill?"

"Fuck off cueball." Robert spat. "You are suck a rookie, you couldn't offend a four old boy."

And with that Robert walked away, mumbling something about Sitwell cleaning his head with Pledge.

* * *

Sitwell watched the agent walk away from him, glaring at the back of his head. He pulled up Hall's file on the computer and copied it onto a thumb drive. Placing the thumb drive into his pocket, he shut his computer and gathered his things to leave.

As Sitwell left the building he drove around aimlessly for approximately one hour, to ensure that he was not being followed. A notification sound went off on his second, private phone which was hidden in his coffee cup holder; it displayed an address and code.

He headed off for the destination, managing to get there after thirty minutes. As he arrived he examined the semi-developed house before sliding out of his car and walking towards the house. He contemplated knocking for a second before he noticed that there was a lock box with a keypad. Entering the code, he looked around again before walking into the house.

The atmosphere in the house was peaceful, calm and even homey. The house was an open layout, making it easy for him to walk through the kitchen and into the dining room. Sitwell look his time looking around, he was in no rush, and approached the three jar on the table.

They were covered in a poison that would kill anyone in less than three minutes. The first one that Sitwell opened had a bunch of lollipops in them, he took a purple one out, unwrapped it, and plopped it in his mouth. It contain the antidote for the poison. The middle one, Sitwell opened and took the thumb drive out of his pocket, he put it in the jar and closed the lid. The third jar, had a new identical thumb drive for him, which he put into his pocket before making his way out of the house and into his car.

Taking one last look at the house, he started his engine and drove back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, but I hit a major Block. Thank you once again to my amazing Beta Vanilla Ashes
> 
> I trying to end this story in 14 chapter or less. The attacks will be coming shortly. I do promise at the end there will be a major surprise


	20. Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the long wait, I will try to post at least 1 a week

Matt woke up to the sun, glaring at him through the window. He squint his eyes as he got out of the bed. With a deep yawn, he walked over to a chair and ruffled through his go-bag, pulling out his clothes for the day. He had no idea what to expect for the day, he was still upset at his cousin's reaction; people with whom he thought loved him, hadn't seemed to be care if he was killed. He didn't understand how they could act so indifferent about HYDRA almost killing him. Matt thought that they loved him, like he loved them.

As he walked out into the kitchen, he saw that the coffee was ready and Dom was making some breakfast. The other man turned around, motioning for him to sit down. Dom placed a plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front of him once he wa seated.

Matt was surprised by this, but he was glad; he was hungry. As Matt ate all the food, he suddenly felt light headed- that was when it occurred to him that Dom was not eating. ' _They drugged my food,_ ' he thought, ' _Well, hopefully it will be a quick death. I am sorry Henry._ ' Matt thought, as his world went black

* * *

Cindy woke up with a smile on her face, the night before was wonderful. She turned to kiss Drake, only to discover that he was gone. A frown made its way to her lips; where was he?

She slid out of bed, putting on a shirt that was on the floor, but didn't put on any pants as she heard his voice in another room. Not wanting to disturb him, or whomever he was speaking to, she sat down in a chair and looked out of the window. Her eyes glanced at the trees, flowers, birds and the view in general, it looked quiet and nice outside.

"Admiring the scenery?" Cindy heard from behind her, she jumped a little as she turned around. Unfortunately the shirt was a little tight for her chest and the top two buttons came undone. Her cheeks felt flushed and she could tell that they must be changing color, as she felt her heart rapidly beating. She covered the top part of the shirt with her left hand as she got up.

Drake was simply smiling at her.

Cindy smiled at him and gave him a kiss, "So where were you this morning? I miss you."

Drake just smiled. "Hmm, sorry business calls." He whispered into her ear as he wraps his arms around her. "Matt will be coming over, we need to have a little friendly chat."

Cindy frowned and push herself out of his arms. "What is going with him? If he is such a pain, kill him."

Drake lowered his head. "Why do you want Matt dead so bad?"

Cindy turned and pouted. "Matt is getting in the way of the plan, maybe he did something to alert the police to our plan. I will not anyone get my way, including family." She growled mostly to herself. "I swore on his grave, that I would avenge him." She walked over to the window, looking back at the view- it no longer being as calming as it was a few moments ago.

Drake just nodded. "Relax, we have been notified that the FBI is on our trail, but they are three days behind us. We must make sure that they get no closer."

Cindy's head whipped around to face him. "How did they find out?"

"Matt's house burned down and the base he worked at did an inventory check, they discovered the missing materials. They followed Matt's credit card and went to Frank's house." He explained.

Cindy nodded. "So they must know that I am missing too, huh?" Drake again just nodded. "So now what?"

* * *

Matt felt like he was coming out of a deep sleep. As he opened his eyes a bright light almost blinded him. Fear and concern flooded him; what was happening? Where was he? And why him.

Suddenly, something hit him hard on the face. It took him a few moments to realise that it had been a brick- however, he didn't have time to process this as another blow came to his face. His head flopped painfully to the side like a doll's head being shakened.

"Enough." Matt heard, trying and failing to place the voice. "Who do you work for?"

"Why did you betray us?" Another voice questioned, more harshly.

"Who else knows about you?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Matt gurgled out, the taste of blood in his mouth almost making him throw up.

 _ **Crack.**_ There was that excruciating pain again, except this time, it was his ribs. Then his side.

The blows continued for what seemed like hours before they finally stopped. He felt blood dripping down his face, his arms, his legs. Matt didn't even attempt to halt his sobs or make sense of why they were beating him.

Matt could feel the gun against his head as his chin was lifted and he came face to face with Drake. and then Matt heard the hammer being pulled back.

"One more time, Dr. Jenkins, you will comply. Why did you tell anyone about your trip? Why did you burn down your house?" Drake spoke slowly.

Matt was sobbing, until he heard a familiar voice, "Matt, I hate you, but remember the pain that you felt when Henry died. Remember when you held Henry's bleeding skull in your hands." It was Cindy, had she been there the whole time, he thought.

"I don't know why my house burn down. Maybe my dog knocked something over." Matt sobbed. "I don't want to die. I want that _monster_ to die. I filled out my paperwork at work and then handed it in. That's all!"

Drake stood up, his expression did not change, Matt honestly thought he would be seeing Henry in a few seconds, but suddenly a new voice filled the room.

"What the Fuck?!" Frank yelled. "Matt! What the Hell!"

"Contain him now." Drake commanded. Two men grabbed Frank and forced him on the floor.

 **"ENOUGH!"** Dom's voice appeared at the same time as he did. "What the hell are you doing to him?" As he pointed to Mat., "Did you all fucking forget the orders? Or HYDRA's goals? It was to keep all scientists alive!" He looked at Frank being restrained on the floor. "Release him now!" He ordered.

The two guards released Frank, and he pushed himself up and walked over to Matt. He then heard Dom shout an order at him.

"You, untie him now!" Frank just nodded, then he heard something else being yelled at him. Frank hated taking orders, but it was clear that Dom was the leader.

Dom walked over to Drake and Nicholas. "This is why I was put in charge, and not you two clowns." Dom yelled at them. "Now why did you do this to him?"

"His house burned down, and the base that he worked at discovered the missing materials. Now the FBI and police are looking for him?" Drake answered.

Dom's face suddenly started to get red. "You fucking _idiots_! I burned his house down, because those were my orders. Every fucking lab does inventory checks, especially ones that have top secret materials." Yelled out. "You will help clean him up _and_ you will be nice to him for the duration of this mission. HYDRA wants scientists, you morons are a dime a dozen, anymore fuck ups, and you will be killed!" And with that, Dom stormed out of the room.

Frank helped Matt up and over to the couch, as the two guards that had restrained him just moments ago brought him water and towels to help clean him up. Frank simply glared at them as he started to help clean up his cousin.

Cindy walked out of the room and then back in with a first aid kit, kneeling down beside them to help with the wounds.

"Why do you care?" Frank said and glared at her. "Thought you wanted him dead?" Matt's head jerked up to look at his cousins, he wasn't aware that Cindy wanted him dead.

Cindy's head bowed down. "I was wrong... I thought he had betrayed us, I just want to avenge Mike's death so badly."

Frank looked at her. "I want to avenge Mary as bad as you,too, but we need to stick together. After this happens, it will be us. I love you, Cindy. I also love Matt,"

Cindy didn't not verbally reply, but nodded as a tear fell down her cheek. She continued to put bandaids onto Matt's cuts.


	21. Chapter 22 How is this my life?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is reading my story, I am going away for a few days. So the next update might be a little delayed

###  **Chapter Twenty Two**

Agents Hall, Barton and Hill were sitting in a typical gridlock traffic jam in the city, they were on their way back from S.H.I.E.L.D HQ to the tower. They had just finished their latest briefing on some terror group in South America. Hall and Hill were in the front and Clint was in the back. Clint had hitched with a ride with them last minute after discovering they were all heading back to the tower. 

“Ugh, this sucks, probably can walk back faster than this stupid traffic.” Barton moaned.

“Please, be my guest, so I don’t have to listen to you bitch for the next hour or so.” Hall replied back, he had his seat back reclined a little, with his eyes closed, holding Maria’s hand in the middle.

“Geez, Robert, you are all heart.” Maria said playfully.

Robert opened his eyes a little and smiled, “I never once claimed to be a completely nice person.”

“Hey Robert, I hate to disturb your siesta, but cock your head to the left.” Clint said in a serious tone.

Robert opened eyes and saw three men with black ski masks run out of a blue Ford Explorer into a bank. “Seriously, what a bunch of idiots.” Robert picked up a mic to a radio and change the channel on it.

“NYPD Dispatch 10-1.” Hall said into the radio.

“10-4, go ahead.” NYPD Dispatch replied. 

“I am a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, there is a 10-30B, 3 armed suspects, 2 possible shotguns and one pistol visible. They just ran into the First Republic Bank, at 1230 Ave of the Americans. Suspects got out a late 2000’s Ford Explorer, dark blue.”

The Dispatch relayed the information to units, said it would be two minutes until the units would arrive. 

“Barton, what the hell are you doing?” Robert yelled as he looked back at Clint. Who he saw was aiming his bow to fire.

“What? I am going to shoot out the tires.” Barton replied as if his plan was completely normal.

“Jackass, why don’t you wait until they get back into the car?” 

“Why? That doesn't make sense.”

“Idiot! So that way, you don’t create a hostage situation for the police.”

“Oh, I suppose.” Clint conceded.

Robert glared at Maria. “Explain to me again how is  _ he _ is one of your top agent?”

Maria pinched her nose, closed her eyes, and letting out a deep sigh. “I don’t know, I ask myself that at least three times a week. Barton you do anything that causes me to do more paperwork today, you will be on new recruit training for the next three months.”

Barton simply made a loud gulping sound.

After a minute, traffic began to move again and the three agents watched the robbers run back to the SUV. They managed to start the engine and move about three yards before they skidded to an unexpected stop. Before they could even question it, three NYPD cars cornered them in. The officers got out of the vehicles with their weapons drawn.

Slowly, the robbers exited their own vehicle, with their hands held up in surrender. You could see the confusion on their face as they saw what had originally halted their escape- an arrow in two of the tires. 

Robert glanced back at Clint to see him smirking and rolled his eyes before taking off.

**Upstate New York**

 

After dinner, Frank and Cindy joined the others in the main cabin. Matt was asleep with a guard watching him- just to be sure that he didn't try to escape. Things were still a bit tense after the attempted murder of the scientist- it was obvious that there were now great trust issues between members of the group. 

Dom sat at the head of the table and looked at each member of the table and just shook his head. “There are obviously some trust issues, but we have a mission to complete, so no more screw ups.” He stated. Everybody have their nod of understanding. 

As the lights darkened, an image appeared on the wall of Central Park in NYC; the planning began.

“The targets will be at  Rumsey Playfield, it is an open stage area. Nicholas will be at the Pa rk lane Hotel on the 40th floor, you will enter the night before, after you take your shot, you are to leave everything and meet up with Cindy and Drake.”

Dom then addressed Frank. “You will enter the General Motors Building as a repairman, we’ll provide you with the necessary credentials.” Frank just nodded. “The same as you, take your shots then leave, and meet up with Matt and Ivan, they will be waiting as well.” He paused to take a breath. “I will be at the East River Realty Building with the Asset, our escape will be a news helicopter, since there will be many in the air that day.” 

There was a chorus of nods as everyone seemed to be in agreement, before they all parted and returned to their cabins.

Dom walked into the shared cabin, and dismissed the guard after he received an update. He walked into the bedroom to see Matt sleeping, he watched him for a little, lowered his down a little and did a small sigh, he turned to walk out of the room. Just as he was closing the door, he heard a voice. 

“Why do you care about him?” Dom quickly turned with a gun drawn he almost pulled the trigger, it was Ivan, one of the asset handlers. 

Dom glared at him. “Eh, don’t worry. HQ orders.” He stated before pausing for a split second. “Now leave me - I have planning to do.”

Ivan was obviously not impressed. “Still holding on to the past, old friend,”

Dom just glared back at him. “You don’t understand what it is like to lose a child.”

Ivan shrugged in reply, and for a moment, it appeared as if he did not have the intention to continue. “No, I don’t, but that is not your son either, no matter how much they might look alike.” 

Dom just sat down and lowered his head into his hands, his anger deflating. “I know but they are  _ so much _ alike. Maybe, if I had been a better father, he would still be alive.”

The other man shook his head as he continued Dom’s statement with the facts. “...and if you could have leaped in the air and stop the bombs from falling.”

Dom lowered his head. “I know my friend, but when you lose a child, the pain never dies.”

Ivan gaze became cold. “Then make the people who caused the pain, die.”

 

Avengers Tower

 

The Avengers and a few agents from S.H.I.E.L.D were gathered around a table which displayed a projected 3D layout of Central Park. They were all discussing security patrols, medical, crowd control, and any risks related to the event which they were planning. 

“I believe that covers it.” Tony commented, leaning back in his chair- he was the least concerned out of all of them. Then again, if anything went wrong, he could fly out in his Iron Man suit. 

Maria Hill pursed her lips. “We’ve gone over ground security, but what about sky security?”

Rhodey, who had been quiet up to now, spoke up. “I will do several bird-eyes visual checks as War Machine. But, if there was anybody to keep an eye on the sky, that would be helpful.”

Hall nodded, “There are going to be some Apaches to help with air support, the Army wanted to help.” Robert noticed immediately that Bruce was getting nervous., “Relax, Bruce, I received word from the President and the Joint Chiefs, that this is in good faith and to help improve the relations between the Army and the Avengers.” Robert still observed that the scientist look nervous, “Bruce, I would never have allowed any harm to come to you, if i had a shred of doubt that there was a trap.”

Hill nodded in thought as she - and half of the group - looked over the layout. 

“That is a good vantage point.” Natasha pointed out.

Robert was nodding his head in agreement, when he looked at Clint with a thoughtful expression on his face. “What about snipers? Should we be concerned?”

Clint looked back at him. “ Well, these buildings up on fifth Avenue are about a mile away, and with the tree coverage in the area, we should be okay.” 

Unimpressed with the opinion, Robert turned to Loki instead. “How big of a shield can you make, appear, or conjured up?”

Loki raised an eyebrow at that question. “I could make a dome shield that could cover everyone including the crowd, for approximately three hours.” 

Tony scoffed. “Whatever, my science will out do that magic. Team Science to the Superhero Lab. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Fuck you. I am the real hero to save the day.” The older man didn’t stop there as he left the room with a sway of his lips.

Bruce, Betty, and Jane just looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

Robert, just started to shake his head, brought his hand up to his face and moaned. “Okay, who is the jackass that told Tony about the Superhero TV Marathon yesterday. Because I  _ specifically _ had Jarvis block it.”

Clint lowered his head. “It wasn't on purpose, I was watching it, and he appeared next to me and flopped on the couch to watch it with me.” 

Robert glared at the agent. “How long was he with you?”

Clint mumbled something, but no one heard it. Then he felt a smack on the back of head from the red headed assassin. Clint cleared his throat. “Ten hours”

Rhodey looked at Robert with a puzzled expression. “What is the big deal?”

Robert looked back at War Machine. “You weren't here, when he watched the Underdog Marathon for 12 hours.” 

Jane shuddered. “Oh, that was horrible what he did to Thor.”

“Didn’t he paint a big White “U’ on your Armor and attached a yellow one on your cape?” Darcy pipped in.

Fury growled a little. “Yes, every time, Thor would enter a room on the Helicarrier, the Underdog theme song would play! I still want to shoot Stark for that.”

Maria glared at the Director. “You want to shoot him? You weren’t the one who spent a week removing that program from the system. Thank God Jarvis actually felt sorry for me, and told me how to do it.”  

Thor growled a little. “Yes, Man of Iron defaced my armor, I had to go to Asgard to have it repaired. The armor Master wasn’t very pleased with the way it was defaced.”

“Yes, he said some very unpleasant things that he was going to do to Stark, if he ever got his hands on him. Mother was also not happy with him either.” Loki commented, with a smirk across his face.

“Ah ha. So, that is why Mjölnir  _ ‘accidently’  _ hit Stark once or twice in the last battle.” Robert noticed, a small sly smile come across Thor’s face, “got it.” was all Robert added. “I just hope he doesn’t get any ideas with the Black Cat and Natasha.”

Natasha looked at the agent. “Black Cat?” she replied curiously, then Jarvis had some images appear on her phone. It took her merely a second before her face darkened. “I will fucking kill him.” She was up and out of the room before anybody could say another word.

Robert looked at Rhodey. “Tony is a dead man, isn't he.”

Rhodey nodded as an ear piercing scream of _‘Tony’_ was heard. “Yup, he is dead.” Pepper just rolled her eyes, and Fury shook his head.


	22. Barton did you kill the Bunny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: It might be a while to the next chapter, thank you for reading. I am still looking for Beta Help

###  Chapter Twenty Three

 

**White House**

**Oval Office**

 

The man in front of the President was speaking with a high level of emotion. The President occasionally forgot how serious this matter was. 

“Mr. President, because of the Battle of New York - with the mind control possession - we need to take extra steps to effectively protect ourselves.” The aide from a very important Senator. “What would have happened if they got to the launch codes, or a super virus, or access codes to Wall Street?”

The aide noticed that the President put up his hand, so he remained quiet. “I understand the Senator’s concerns, but this bill, WFG-6667, that would not see Congress. But you are basically asking to have agents killed without due process.” The President paused for a moment, “Men and Women that give their lives to defend and protect this great land of ours. They should have the right to know if they are free from the enemy’s control and that they have a country awaiting to welcome them.”

The aide clapped. “Mr. President, I am not naive, but we have to look at what has happened. Agent Barton, is a clear example of worst case scenario, and historically, when you do not prepare for that to happen. IT WILL!”

The President’s expression did not change. “I won’t argue with you on that matter, but it needs some changes. So that we are not just executing everyone that comes from being in the enemy hands.” in a firm voice

The aide knew that the meeting was over, so he brought his hands together, “Very well, Mr.President, we will take this back and work on it. We should a have a modified version that will satisfy all interested parties, back at you by the end of week.”

The President nodded, “Thank you, and have a good day.”

With that, the aide left the office.

 

**Avenger’s Tower**

 

Loki and Darcy were enjoying some quiet time on their floor at night, is was so rare for them to have these moments.  With babysitting Jane in the lab with Tony, Betty, and Bruce and Loki making trips to Asgard with Thor, to work with Odin. They were enjoying soft kisses and their hands in each other’s hair, not really talking, but just listening to each other’s breathing, when there was a soft knocking at the door. 

Darcy closed her eyes, she wanted to scream, as she stood up and stomp over to the door. Loki just watched and smiled, he enjoyed watching her snap at people, to him it was comical.

Darcy was pissed, she finally gets ten minutes of alone time after a very busy day. She swung open the door so hard that it bounced off the wall, her head turn back to yell and curse at the person. When she stopped dead in her movements,  and saw the mighty God of Thunder, white as a ghost. Loki immediately noticed the most unusual reaction of his brother and appeared next to Darcy 

Thor tried to speak, “Brother, I have received a vision from Mother, she said that we were in danger. But not only that Asgard may or may not face a terrible fate. The next thing I saw was her, at both of our funerals.”

Loki was stunned, it was him that usual received the vision, not Thor. Thor did have some magic abilities but not near anywhere the same as himself. Thor had a habit to miss the little details, which is very bad in a vision.

“Thor, come in and sit down please.” Loki said in a careful tone, Thor obey him, and came in resting in a chair. Darcy looked at her love, “are you going to be okay, should i go check on Jane?” 

Loki  smiled at her, “Yes, i will handle him, he might have given her a good scare.”  He leaned and gently peck her forehead. With that Darcy left the room, Loki went back over to his brother. “Okay Thor, how long ago did you have this vision?”

Thor still looked nervous and shakened, “About five minutes ago.”

Loki let out a deep breath, “Good, now tell me everything in order please, in order.”

Thor looked at Loki, “It was quick, there was  Huginn and Muninn, and they were on a branch, the was very dark clouds. All they would say is that, the storm is coming.”

Loki found this very unsettled It was rare for the visions to be specific about what was going on or going to happen, “Rest you oaf, “ 

Darcy leaned up against her lover, the fear could be seen in her eyes, “What  does this mean, are we in danger?”

Loki didn’t want to alarm her, but he could not lie to her, “Possible, unfortunately we will not when or where, but it could tomorrow, or next month.”

Darcy’s eyes became red, she appeared that the tears would burst out. Loki shoulders slumped down as he pulled her in for a hug. Just then, the door swung open and a frantic Jane with tears coming out of her eyes, came charging into the apartment.

“Where, Where the fuck is he?”Jane was frantically repeating, she noticed that Darcy was pointing to Thor, Jane practically dove on him and wrapped him. 

Loki looked at the couple, as Jane was kissing and hugging his brother, “Well that is a bit over dramatic?” he commented. Next thing he felt was a punch in the arm and when he turned to look at Darcy, he saw the death glare that she was giving him. 

Loki just shrugged his shoulders, “Sorry dear, I suppose we should let the others know.” as he rubbed his arm, while not wanting to anger his lover anymore.

 

**Upstate New York**

 

In the darkened room, there was a faint blue glow from a laptop on the desk. A blue light that lit up his face didn't bother him. He wasn’t allowed to be bother by something so trivial. The mission mattered, that is all that mattered, in the end. Then he would disappear into the cold, he hated the cold, but he had no choice. 

The man typed on the laptop, he had to make sure that everything was working correctly, that the chemicals were delivered into the asset correctly.

           Spent a good 20 minutes Going over all the information and checking the levels of the chemicals once he was satisfied that it was good Because the computer off and close the lid. She went over to look over the accent Make sure that he was good no cuts no bruises No leaks in the arm And as always everything is ok He left the room closing the door behind him, saying ,”You will bring glory to Hydra.”

**Avenger’s Tower**

 

Loki and Thor had just gotten done explaining the vision to everyone, present. “Loki, it is unusual that Thor would get this and not you?” Bruce asked.

“Yes, but it does happen once in awhile, I usually dread when it happens. I know Thor is inexperienced with these things. He will forget details, which is very important not to do.” Loki replied 

“I have gotten better, my brother.” Thor said in a muffled tone, since his head was resting on his arms.

“Finally, considering how many times you almost got all of us killed.” Loki answered in an sharp voice.

“robert , you seem rather calm about this,” Steve questioned why the Agent seemed to be staring at the ceiling.

“I got woken up at 2:30 in the morning to Jarvis blasting Wake up Dead, by Megadeth into my bedroom. I thought we were under attack, but instead I get the Golden child of Asgard having a vision, but can’t be specific that you too are in danger. I am sorry if I sound like a total uncaring asshole right now. But is there anything, anything at all, that can give me a time frame of this danger?” Robert said in grumbling voice

Thor started to speak, but then closed his mouth, he repeated this action again. Robert let out a big sigh and started to walk away.  “I remember a statue of a girl between a rabbit and man in a hat.” Robert immediately stopped in his tracks, and turned around.

“Well now that is something I can work with.” The agent said in a more alert tone.

“Why is that statue important?” Jane asked

“Because I run past it at least 10 times when I run,” Steve replied nodded his head, “It is in Central Park, very close the the Rumsfeld Playhouse.”

“Oh shit, that blows ass.” Clint mumbled 

“Language,” Steve said 

“Well this is going to suck now.” Robert stated, as he brought his hand to his face.

“You seem rather calm about this.” Pepper commented 

“Well let’s just say living with all of you, has raised my shock level pretty high. I mean hell, I am surprised the Easter Bunny hasn’t shown up yet. But then again, Barton probably shot him.”

Clint had a pure shocked face appear on him, “I would never do that, never, never, do that.”

Tony started to laugh  a little, “Yeah you did it, then you got deadly red hide the body.”

Robert started to laugh, but then got very quiet, “Jarvis how many times has Natasha made dinner with rabbit and when did she do it.”

“ _ According to my records Agent Hall, Agent Romanoff made Rabbit in Sour Cream, on April 2nd of this year. She has not made it since then.” _ Jarvis answered to a suddenly quiet room.

“YOU KILLED THE EASTER BUNNY!!!! YOU ARE A HEARTLESS BASTARD!” Darcy screamed , to a very worried Clint. As she jumped out of her chair.

Loki and Thor looked very confused as always, Loki quickly got up and tried to gently restrain his lover.

Steve just rolled his eyes, and asked “Clint please tell you didn’t shoot a rabbit,: Clint just lowered his head and mumbled something.

Bruce just turn to look at him,”Wait, you really did shoot him,” Betty’s mouth just gaped open.

Clint suddenly realized what was happening, “No, I didn’t shoot the Easter Bunny, but it was just a bunch of rabbits.” 

Darcy started crying again, “YOU KILLED HIS FAMILY,” Loki and Jane tried to calm her down.

Robert just shook his head, and wondered to himself, ‘ _ God I am going to have a very serious talk with you when I die about your sense of Humor’ _

End of chapter


End file.
